Because why not, You dork
by CloudySunDrop
Summary: Gravity Falls one shots, with a primary focus on Dipper and Pacifica as they put a magnifying glass over the many weird things that they face in their strange and dangerous little town. General romantic themes but hopefully adventure to keep wheels spinning. Teen AU. Dipcifica prominent.
1. Of Ghosts and Insults

"I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public." was heard from behind Dipper as he focused on the task at hand. Giving into Pacifica's pleas for attention or insults wouldn't get the stupid statue exorcised any faster.

"Pacifica, look, I know the whole, 'oh I'm so popular! I have a meanness quota! Ohh look at me!' is a thing you pride yourself in, but I'm actually doing important work to help the people of Gravity Falls. So either stay and help or walk away because you're not wanted here."

"Geez Dip, something crawled up your arm, into your hat and into your mess of curly hair only to get caught and die there. Well, it's either there or up your ass."

"Well that, that was totally unpredicted, and one hundred percent original material work there Paz. Now stop talking about my ass and walk away with yours."

Dipper turned to see her for the first time since she made her presence known to him. She had a loud mouth and generally kept up her looks every day, so he couldn't imagine much would change on today when she started to talk- well, be rude and tease- to him. However, today seemed to not be in her favor, Pacifica looked rather disheveled, and she lacked a particularly trademark purple eyeshadow. Dipper stared at her once making these observations, not because she was stunning, which she always was, just because it was so odd.

For a moment Dipper forgot about their fight and his work freeing the spirit tied to the statue that kept terrorizing all that walked past it. The ghost was subdued enough for right now for him to talk. Well, should be subdued enough.

"Wow, rough day? No intense make up and you're resorting to talking to me. I mean I get that you and Mabel are now friends but I thought you still hated me?"

"Mabel was supposed to hang out with me today, but I got to the restaurant we were going to have lunch with and she had already strung up a date. The girl moves so quickly. So I was just walking back, or well, walking when I saw you and decided to see why the hell you wanted to look like more of a freak to the town than normal. "

"That's a sound enough of argument, but I really do have to get back to looking like a freak before this guy snaps. He's been way too pissy with me for wanting to be free."

"…Are you freeing the ghost then? He's just pissy 'cause his flowers all died, you don't really need to like free him. He'll just stick around if you do."

Dipper saw the dead flowers beneath his feet, he was standing as close as he could to draw the chalk around the base of the statue and set up the candles. He knew that ghosts could be possessive over their burial sites but, this was a statue, not a burial site, it couldn't be true. These sorts of things were completely different.

"Yeah whatever Paz, maybe if he had died here but he didn't so its not likely that he just wants flowers. Plus I heard that this guy was a real tough guy, and I doubt as a tough guy in that time included a passion for botany."

Dipper said this but soon found his chalk lines erasing and his candles blowing out and knocking over. Dipper looked up and sure enough the ghost was destroying Dipper's hard work. The ghost was a large burly man with a scowl on his face.

"Look Dip, I know you hate being wrong and all cause your hubris is taller than you, which isn't to say much, but you get the point. You know that since the mansions ghost when we were twelve that I can see ghosts all the time now. Just go to the market with me, we'll get some flowers and they guy will calm down! For God's sake, he doesn't want to be free! He's been erasing your chalk for the last half hour of you working on it!"

"Fine Paz. We'll do it your way and go get the man some stupid flowers. When it doesn't work though, you owe me lunch."

"Whatever Pines, you could just say you want to go on a lunch date with me. Lets go."

"That- That's not- That's not even remotely true! And you said I had ego problems…" He said it but he was red in the ears and his cheeks were the slightest bit pink.

She decided not to justify his statement with a response; she knew she had won if he brought up her ego. She knew it was larger than it needed to be, so he really wasn't teasing as much as stating the obvious, and that was boring. When she teased him, she brought up his height as well, it made more of a statement, plus it wasn't like it was true.

They walked to the garden store and Pacifica began picking out an array of plants. Sunflowers, Forget-me-nots, peony's, two tea rose bushes, and some pansies which she made sure Dipper grabbed for her.

Dipper had a basic understanding about how gardening went about, but the names and meanings of flowers that she was tossing about made his head spin a bit. It was like listening to Mabel talk about boy bands and their love affairs.

She also grabbed some gardening gloves and two little spades for digging, a bottle of Miracle growth was grabbed and she purchased the flowers. She took the cart with the flowers in it so they wouldn't have to carry all the plants that she purchased and then paid the woman at the register to forget about its existence.

They returned to the ghost muttering to himself which, as Pacifica pointed out to Dipper, he did often when he was waiting for something. Normally it was for a storm to come in off the mountain ridges or for children to climb off of the statue that he tied himself too, apparently they were special to him. Or, special enough to be muttered about, this was probably because of the promise of flowers.

Dipper and Pacifica got quick to work digging into the dirt around the base of the statue, making little holes for placing the smaller plants into and larger ones for the sunflowers and bushes. Pacifica put music on her phone and it played from her back pocket. It was mostly boy band stuff that Mabel listened too, but a BABBA song came on, and Dipper found himself singing along to it, hoping she wouldn't notice.

Pacifica did notice however and took measures to make sure he would keep singing. He wouldn't talk to her since they left the store and since she explained the ghost muttering. She turned up the volume on the speaker and sang along herself. It was boring without banter or teasing, so something to get him to talk to her again was welcome.

Sure enough, he kept singing, although a little bit louder now that Pacifica had joined in. The two smiled while they worked, and Pacifica ensured that the BABBA album was put on instead of shuffle so he would keep singing.

They got some weird looks, Pacifica more than Dipper, and a few came up to ask her why she was doing what she was. Specifically, a boy named Marcus Neiman came up to her, she knew he did this because his parents' wealth apparently told him he could be in her league. What a lie that was.

"Pacifica Northwest? What in all the heavens is a flower like you, doing, well, the maids work? It's just soo beneath you! Maybe not for the child next to you, but that's status for you! Ahaha get it?" The boy also liked the sound of his own voice, because even though she didn't answer his first questions he carried on.

"Well, this is just silly! Just so odd! Why not hire some one to do it? Stop it. Please I insist. I'll call around a man right now and have it finished for you. Just stop! You're an heiress, not a gardener! Stop!" The boy was frustrated as she continued to ignore him. He was interrupting her time trying to vainly befriend Dipper.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. You are so right! It is beneath me. Literally, I'm standing on it. Back the fuck off now. Call someone to come and I assure you my parents will hear about how you've invaded my time today. Go away now. And if you refer to Dipper as a child again, I assure you yet another thing. You will wake up somewhere other than your bed."

"Point made, Christ Pacifica, I was only doing as a gentleman would… What do you mean, 'somewhere other than my bed'?" He was trying to shrug off her now obvious distaste for him, and though a bit frightened by her in a now angry state, he needed to know what her threat meant to him.

"I mean you'll wake up, and you'll be tied to a tree in the middle of the forest. Miles away from help. And you'll scream, and scream for help, a butler, a commoner, any one. But no one will hear you. And do you know what?"

"W-what?"

"You will be heard, though, not by humans. There are more dangerous things in the woods. Maybe wolves will tear you ligament by ligament as they pull you apart for food. Maybe the shadows will grab you. Maybe you'll escape your ties, but you'll be lost, no one returns from the woods alone. So now, I need you to repeat after me."

"O-Ookay Pacifica, but please, you're frightening me!"

"That's the point. Now repeat: I am the scum of the earth."

"I hardly think that's appro-"

"You'll wake up cold at this rate."

"I am the scum of the earth."

"Now say: I will never speak to Pacifica Northwest again unless either my life or hers depends on it"

"I will never speak to Pacifica Northwest again unless either my life or hers depends on it" he repeated.

"Wonderful. Now Mr. Neiman, I'm going to ask that you walk away and that you follow what you've just told me."

And so off the boy went, shaken scared and 100 percent unsure about how safe he really was.

Dipper was staring at Pacifica. She had gone back to planting as if nothing had changed since they were listening to BABBA. She was calm. Her ponytail behind her head bobbed as she dug into the earth with her spade. Dipper was not calm and could not focus on the plants. even though the ghost started muttering to him. That was a terrifying exchange.

"Um, Pacifica, thanks for defending me and all in that but, I'm pretty sure the guy's gunna have nightmares for a while because of that."

"I figure because the creep sought me out, which is obvious because he lives in the next town over, he's already dreaming about me. So if anything, I'd rather him have nightmares in fear of me rather than wet dreams where he fools himself into thinking he can disrespect me."

And so Dipper shut up. It was obvious that she was not calm. Even though her ponytail bobbed just the same, her grip on the spade was tight and she was practically throwing the peonies into the ground. Her words made Dipper consider new things though.

Of course she had suitors, he just never realized that she had the kinds that were so invasive and well- could be complete perverts. The fact that she knew what she was saying to him as she said it meant she probably had had to give the same spiel or something like it to other creeps. And considering how many people were after her, because of her looks, or her parent's money, or her skill in athletics amongst many other desirable traits, she must have to deal with it with frequency.

It had been around 1 o'clock when she found Dipper trying to exorcise the ghost man, and it was close to 3 when they finished buying, planting and then watering the statues plants. The ghost was gleeful to say the least. In his pleasant attitude, he pat Pacifica on the head and drew a symbol into the dirt for Dipper.

Dipper apparently knew what it was and started freaking out. He pulled his journal from his back pack and wrote it down with accuracy, and was soon documenting a whole page to the ghost. He even wrote down the flower types that they got.

"What are the pink ones again?" He looked up to inquire to Pacifica but she seemed to be talking to the ghost.

It was a whisper quiet conversation, so he couldn't hear what they said but it obviously meant a lot to her. She had tears in the sides of her eyes, and though they didn't fall, and wouldn't, they were still there.

Dipper waited for her to turn around and talk to him, and in doing this eventually went back to documenting so she could have as much time as she wanted. Soon enough though, she spoke to him.

"So Dipstick, Did you still want to do lunch? It's kind of late for it but I'm pretty sure that won't stop you."

"Huh? But I lost that wager. The guys happy where he is, he just wanted the flowers like you said. You were taking me to lunch if you were wrong I thought."

"Yeah, and because I was right, you have to have lunch with me. Duh. Terms and Conditions dude, or did you expect to be the only one to benefit with winning?"

"No, I just- Well I figured you'd ask for something else or for me to fuck off or something… You want me to have lunch with you then?"

"So highly you think of me then. If you thought I'd let you be wrong and then just tell you to fuck off. And actually, no I don't want to have lunch with you. You can go home and eat."

"Oh- okay then… Um, then what do you want from me?" Deals with open ends made him queasy.

"You're going to pick me up in that death trap of a car from my house at seven thirty on the dot and I'm going to take you to dinner. Bring your journal; I have some stuff you'll want to write down."

"Oh! Yeah I can do that! Um, we aren't going anywhere fancy are we?"

"That's the 'you were wrong part'. You get to suffer in a suit for a few hours stuck in a situation of social convention without escape until after we've eaten."

"Well, some sort of twist was expected."

"I'm going to go home then; I'll see you later tonight. Eat some lunch but don't fill up, dinner is going to be amazing as hell."

And so she turned and walked away, in the direction of the Northwest Manor. Her skirt was blowing the tiniest bit in the breeze, not that he was staring, and her ponytail bobbed up and down. Her purple outfit had slowly gotten less formal over the years, and the fashion she wore around town wasn't always the newest in Paris like when they were twelve. Her calves were killer.

Dipper, didn't really realize that he had been checking her out as she strode away, but he had done just that and then soon went to packing up his materials. He left a single candle for the ghost, having heard it was respectful or something, and took up the rest after putting out their flames.

He walked to the shack, humming to himself one of his favorite BABBA songs that Pacifica had played. He recounted their experience together and in doing that, found he was at the steps of the shack faster than he thought he would be. Had he been so zoned out the whole way home?

He quickly went into the shack; he decided to say hi to Soos and his older guardians. His Grunkle and Grandpa were bound to be still running the shop even though it wasn't a prime time for tourists at almost four in the afternoon

He was first bombarded with a 'Welcome to the Mystery Shack!' and then met a "oh it's just Dipper." Oh how good it was to be home.

"Hey guys. How're things in the shop today?" He asked, not really interested but knowing that his Grunkle would re-account some story of the day to be an epic and would start a fight with his twin over it."

"Actually nothing much champ, oh wait, except for practically robbing this one man blind! He was such an idiot! It was beautiful! He practically bought the shop! Tonight we dine on the finest pizza!"

"Sweet, but Gramps, how true is that? Are we really making more money than normal, or does Grunkle just not want to cook?"

"It's pretty true for once, this sad sap walked in freaking out about how a girl was going to string him up in the woods for the wolves to eat. He was screaming about needing supernatural help so we sold him a bunch of crap crystals and stuff. Naming our price as we went. It was pretty great, but I feel bad for the little dude, he was really scared." His grandpa crossed his arms and remembered all of this really rather fondly. Grunkle punched him in the arm lightly and they laughed together.

"Oh that guy. Yeah Pacifica threatened him and all that and- oh that's right. I owe her after losing a bet so I won't be here for dinner…"

"Wait, Blonde-y threatened him? The one with the money?"

"Yeah, was the guy kind of short and blonde?" to which they shook their heads in affirmation, ", Then yeah that's him. He was hitting on her so she got him to fu- to go away by scaring the crap out of him."

"Who knew princess had it in her. I always knew she was the scary type though, Mabel told me some stories about her and her ghost friends. Speaking of which, did you get that one exorcised?" Grunkle questioned Dipper, remembering that that was his reasoning for not being home in his room or working today.

"Oh, apparently the guy just wanted flowers. Paz helped me go buy some and plant them. He's chill now."

The old men shared a look. They first were just staring at each other, but then both smirked. Apparently in their twin speak, a decision was made.

His grandpa spoke first after he broke the look with his brother.

"So then, you seem to be spending a lot of time with this girl, to know all of this that is."

"Oh, I mean not really, just this afternoon. She came up to insult me and ended up helping me out with the ghost cause Mabel ditched her. I mean I'll have to spend time with her later cause I lost but… oh that's right I came in this way to go to the kitchen." Dipper talked and walked to the house part of the shack to get food, realizing that the old men were going to dig for answers to some questions Dipper didn't yet know.

The old men followed after telling Soos to watch the front once he finished fixing the lightbulb he had been working on. Dipper's grandpa then spoke.

"So you're taking the gal out on a date of her choosing tonight then?"

"What? No, no it's not a date. I just owe her for helping me and for losing the bet to her. That's all it is."

"Okay then wise guy, what're you wearing to take her to dinner. Since your just going as friends. I recall Mabel would wear her sweaters as normal when they would go out for pizza or for breakfast or whatever." Was what Grunkle Stan then inquired in Dipper's direction.

" I mean, she said we were going somewhere fancy, so I was going to wear a suit- Wait, no stop that. Stop grinning. Mabel's had to dress up to go to dinner with Paz before. I'm sure she has."

"No Dipper, I'm pretty sure she hasn't but," A car pulled up in the driveway making his Grandpa pause, it was Mabel's very pink Mobile, "Let's ask her right now!"

"Oh God, just give it a rest! I'm gunna go eat. I haven't all day and I'm starving…." But his elders who were obviously not going to let it rest, were practically running out of the house to see Mabel.

Dipper made his way to the kitchen at last and made a sandwich for himself. Even in the center of the house, he could hear Mabel squeal and run through the front door. She started screaming his name too, trying to locate him faster. He didn't respond.

"Dipper! Dipper! Oh my goodness! Are they lying to me? Or is it true!?" She found him and was jumping up and down inquiring very loudly about whatever the old geezers told her. In between bites he replied:

"It's a lie Mabel." And he went back to eating, even though he saw her deflate a bit. That only lasted a second before she seemed to perk back up.

"Okay that's fine! At least you get to have dinner with us then!"

"Huh? No I'm going to pick up Paz later and take her to dinner, what were you asking about?"

"So it is true! You and my bestie are going on a date! Oh my goodness I can't wait to talk to her about this! I should call her right now-"

"Awe come on! Mabel No! It's not a date! I just lost a bet to her!"

"Losing bets to Pacifica normally lead to horrifying or embarrassing situations, considering she's paying to feed you, I'm going to say I'm pretty sure it's a date. That and she thinks you're cute, so it just makes sense. Oh my goodness it's going to be so cute to see you and her all dressed up!" Mabel was over the moon, and didn't mean to dish out that Pacifica thought he was cute, but as soon as she realized that she had, she looked at her brother.

He his sandwich in hand, crums around his mouth which was held open and his cheeks and ears were red. Oh my god did she want to date him? HIM? WHAT?

Mabel could tell from the look on his face, that obviously enough he came to a realization and his brain was frazzled. Great now she had broken him. Mabel sighed loudly and threw her shoulders back. Her brother was such a dork.

He sat at the table, with his food in hand for a while, trying to figure things out. Maybe it was a date then? No it couldn't be, she really didn't like him, and especially didn't like him like, well, like that. She was always teasing him and even though what Mabel had said was really probably true, it just, it couldn't be… but could it?

Mabel was now talking loudly to him about something. He heard the words 'Summer romance' and zoned back out again. Maybe it was a joke? Maybe it was to keep Mabel off of her back for not dating. He'd never seen her walking around town with anyone, he always assumed she never dated. Mabel was flailing her arms, still talking fervently about something when Dipper decided to start eating again.

"Does that make sense Dip n Dots?" She inquired loud enough and directly enough for him to snap out of his own world and respond to her.

"uh yeah sure. Makes all the sense in the world Mabes." He lied to make her feel like he had paid attention. Unfortunately for him, she knew he hadn't been.

"I'm glad you agree, you know where to buy condoms right?"

He spat out his food. He hacked and wheezed tried not to choke on what little food remained in his mouth. What the _hell _had she been talking about?

"UH MABEL, WHAT? I DEFINITLY MISSED SOMETHING."

"Ahaha, sorry I'm just messing with ya! Omg your face is so red! You could be used for like, demonic ketchup at this point! You're like a little human tomato!"

"Christ! Okay then Mabel! Let's just kill me with a heart attack early."

"You're such a drama queen Dipper! Chill out!"

"Yeah I would do that if you weren't constantly out for my life!"

"Oh shush, you're worse than time baby! Whatever have fun on your date! Say bye to me when you leave, I have a new boyfriend to go bother!"

"Tell him my usual threats, and will do."

And with a thumbs up, she stood and marched out of the room, phone already in hand and singing some song from the radio. He finished the rest of his lunch and decided not to think about it for a little while. He grabbed his journal and made way to his room, avoiding the old men that would badger and tease him worse than Mabel ever would. He got there but decided a nap was in order instead of reading.

This was a mistake however, because he then woke up to the pizza man ringing the door bell. _Wait? What time is it? _He pulled out his phone and saw that it was 6:45. It would take him at least 15 minutes to get to the manor and he had to put on a suit, FAST. He was scrambling around the room, finding the blazer, _check,_ tie, _check,_ pants_, check_ and shoot where did his shoes go? _Fuck. _

With his dress shirt on and his dress slacks, he was rummaging around looking for his shoes. Checking his watch, crap it was 7, how did it take him so long to get that few clothes on? He finally found them mixed in with Waddles things out in the hallway in front of his room. Putting them on, then rushing back into his room to grab the suit jacket and the tie which he wrapped around his neck, it could be tied at a red light he decided.

He ran to the bathroom to groom his hair, which he realized then that he had to shave. Crap he was running out of time. No shave, but his hair was gelled slightly in place since he wouldn't be allowed to wear his hat, he ran out of the bathroom almost knocking over Mabel.

"Sorry Mabel! I've got to run! I can't be late or she'll have my skin!" He half shouted to her as he was running down the hallway and then down the stairs. He could hear her laughing even as he exited the back door.

He ran to his car, started it and put it in gear and was soon racing off. He was late, he knew it, it was 4 minutes passed when he needed to leave to get there on time. So he drove a little faster than what was protocol for the small town. _Crap a red light_. But then he remembered he had to tie his tie into a pretty knot. As soon as he finished haphazardly doing such, the light was green and he was doing 20 over the normal speed limit.

Dipper rushed through the small town, and made it up the hill and he finally looked at his watch again, he was 3 minutes early to her gates. What a fucking relief.

He pressed the gate button from his seat in the car, spoke his name and the gates opened. They were expecting him then?

He drove up to the round about that was at the top of her drive way and parked his car in front of the massive front doors. A butler was standing there and as Dipper got out of his car the Butler came to meet him at the bottom of the steps from the front door.

"Mr. Dipper, I presume. Yes, unfortunately, Ms. Northwest has told us that she is not to have any suitors come to the house. When you spoke to the gate man, he was confused because you have helped the Northwest Family with, situations, in the past. But I will have to be clear in telling you that Ms. Northwest has both refused suitors and that Mr. Northwest would not approve of, one such as yourself, attempting to win her over. I'm afraid I must send you on your way. Now." The man couldn't be clearer. So she hadn't told him that he was coming. He looked down at his watch, at I was just now 7:30. Like clockwork, quite literally, Pacifica appeared in the front door before Dipper could argue against the butler.

"Mr. Paul, unfortunately the rest of the normal threats will not be necessary tonight. I have already told the ladies in the kitchen not to set my place at the dinner table. I will be dinning out with Dipper. Give my parents the appropriate regards if you would. If he is particularly angry though, don't bother, I'll deal with him when I return. Don't wait up for me though, okay?"

"Ms. Pacifica, I- I'm so surprised! Yes I will do as you have asked, but do know I will be awaiting your return. Young man, she had better return at an appropriate hour of the night, or I and several other butlers here will have your head. Good evening to you both." And with that Pacifica kissed the older man on the cheek and went to the passenger side of the door. Dipper caught on quickly enough and rushed to it, opening it and closing it once she was inside. This whole ordeal had him so freaked out that he forgot who he was going just exactly who he was going to dinner with. It was a relief that she never changed, no matter who she was in front of.

He climbed into the driver's seat, gave a meek hello to his friend, and drove off down her driveway. The butler wrote down his license plate number just in case.

"Well hello yourself Dipper. Sorry, I didn't tell anyone but the gate man that you were coming to get me. Word would have traveled too quickly back to my father if it were any other situation. Bleh, the man's such a control freak. Thanks for coming to get me. It's a much needed escape."

"Yeah, I got the control freak kind of read from him. Any who were am I driving you too exactly?"

"Here I plugged it into my GPS on my phone; I'll set it up here on the dash, just follow where it tells you to. I set up a reservation so drive as fast or as slow as you'd like, the woman on the phone was super obnoxious so I don't mind pissing them off."

"Im going to go with slower, I raced over here and im sure if the police in this town actually worked, I would have like 3 tickets by now."

"Why'd you do that? I told you on the dot. You know how I am with punctuality, why would you want to be early? Antsy to see me?" She purposefully left the last question to be flirtatious but it was dipper she was dealing with. He was as flirtatious as a rock.

"Huh? No, I fell asleep and woke up too late, I was freaking out about being late, because trust me, I do know how you are with punctuality."

"Ha, it makes sense then. Hey! So much for slow, you're at the speed limit! Go like 20 through here, its prettier that way."

So he complied. He didn't know that he wanted to go slower anymore. He was going to have a panic attack, if he did, he could watch her if he went slowly.

She was wearing what Mabel would call a "lake foam" green party dress. It was strapless and her collar bones were making him turn pink.

"Nope." Was all the warning he gave as he dropped a lead foot and went from 20 to 70 in a matter of moments. Pacifica found this hysterical and laughed, quickly rolling down her window to stick her arms out. He started to laugh too, and speedily made his way to the restaurant. At some point the radio was put on him or Pacifica and they were singing at the top of their lungs to the songs that played. Finally though, they were both hoarse in throat from screaming, hair windblown from the windows being down at the speed they were going, and they had arrived at the seafood bar she apparently wanted to take him.

It was a complimentary valet, and the cars ranged from Mercedes to Porsches to other sports cars he could only dream of. His 15 year old hunk of junk was a white and orange sore thumb. It was a little embarrassing but he didn't really expect any less.

The valet, a kid maybe a little older than him, thought it was pretty funny though, and didn't give Dipper any crap.

He and Pacifica made their way in and the woman at the hostess stand was suddenly terrified to see that the Pacifica N. she had taken the reservation from was a Northwest. It was her fault for not realizing sooner though; it was definitely not a common first name.

They were seated immediately, despite being 10 minutes earlier than they were expected, though Dipper feared this was because they gave them another couples table.

"Dipper, I swear to god, if you make this painful, I will make you feel pain." She said to him once they were seated. He was obviously uncomfortable and after talking with Mabel on the phone, she knew he was nervous about it being a date. She could use this as an advantage though.

"Uh, sorry Paz. I'm just not- not used to this sort of dining! Yeah that's it. I'm just not used to the whole suit and tie business."

"Sure, that's why. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that Mabel told you this was a date."

"Oh uh, um, yes she did tell me that… uh?" and he was lost as what to say further. He didn't want to offend her, but he didn't want to say more than he had too. So saying nothing should work… And it did, because Pacifica finished the thought.

"Puh-lease Pines. If it was a date I'd be kissing you goodnight later. I'll leave you with that to think about in consideration to the fact that we're having fish for dinner."

So it wasn't a date then. It wasn't the biggest relief he had felt in his life, because he wasn't sure that he would have hated kissing her goodnight, but he felt that he could act more like himself at least.

They were soon greeted by a waitress to whom they gave their drink orders, and later their dinner orders, and later got the check from. True enough they had had fish for dinner. And for the price that it was, it lived up to Dipper's expectations for being the best fish he had had in his entire life. They had made peaceful conversation. Some about ghosts, most about the crazies around Gravity falls though. That also turned into Paz ranting about the different rich boys and girls she hated. Dipper found it really fun to listen to her rant about it though, and got to tell his own stories of jerks around Gravity falls and back home in California. It was easy getting along with her when she didn't make him an object of ridicule.

Pacifica declined getting desert, which Dipper wouldn't voice as being upset with, though he secretly was. He had a sweet tooth like Mabel, just not as extreme as Mabel had.

Soon enough, they were leaving. She had tipped the valet and the car was returned to them. Getting settled in his seat, and loosening the god-forsaken tie that he was wearing, he asked her what was next.

"So to the manor then? Fancy dinners are always way longer than they need to be."

"That was long for you then? Dip, that's like every night of my life. And no, I don't want to go back yet, and I still have stuff to tell you for your journal remember?"

He had not remembered. _Crap._ In his rush to get out of the house earlier, he had forgotten his journal on his bed.

She saw the guiltily look wash over his face. The one time she can actually contribute to what he likes. _Goddammit Dipper._

"Wow, Dip okay then. Whatever, drive me to McDonalds, I'll tell you over a Mcflurry. You can write it on some stolen napkins and put it in your journal later tonight."

It was a sound enough plan, and was enacted with glee as he really wanted the sugar right about now. The peppermint he took from the restaurant no longer sufficing in getting rid of the fish taste.

They arrived, and went through the drive through to get their ice-cream desserts; he asked for a stack of napkins and received a stack of them.

"God these are so fucking yummy. I haven't had one in a year, and that was when I was with your sister after some break up of hers."

"That's weird to think about. Considering their available to literally everyone else at all times in the day and throughout the year." Dipper would never stop being surprised at how many limitations one had when they were that rich. It was amazing that they had power over the town but couldn't go get fries if they wanted to.

"Yeah well there you have it, but to business then. The ghosts around this town have been talking, and something cold is coming. Their word, not my own. They won't say much to me because I'm still mortal, but because I see them regularly enough and talk to them, I think their sweet on me. They tell me more than they tell you that's for damn sure.

"And any who, they're all really freaking out about it. Simon today, the one with the flowers we planted, told me more. Apparently a daemon is going to come in and fulfill a frost prophecy in the next month. He said it won't kill anyone but that the forest will be free of charms that have been put on it. Someone at some point put some spells on it to contain all the crazy beasties. God the mix of M&amp;Ms and ice-cream is so perfect, like what the hell, this is so much better than anything."

"Huh, so we've got to prepare to keep all the monsters in and to fight a daemon? Man, I love this place."

"You are so weird. Anyway, I've got the ghosts of the town to help us keep the lesser beings out of the town limits; they can't scare some of the bigger monsters. But its some back up, which is better than none."

"I think I can get a couple people in tow to help us. My family is in, obviously, but I have a few allies in the woods. I also have people who owe me favors. So that'll be good."

"Who owes you a favor?"

"The entire Gnome Army, The Multi-bear, I've got the Man-o-taurs to back me once I tell them that Multi-bear is fighting, cause they'll want to show off. I can get a couple more with some more time and more strings pulled. I think we can make this work to our favor."

"You are so fucking weird."

"That's really offensive considering I'm going to try to save the town with you. And you're the one who asked! Geez, there's no winning with you."

"Nope, there is no winning unless I win too, or I want you to win."

She had taken off her heels, and since they were parked, stuck her feet out the window, the dress was puffy enough that he or anybody else wouldn't see anything anyway. He had reclined his seat back a bit earlier. They had finished their ice-cream a long time ago. He looked over at her after she made this statement. She said it like a challenge, but also with a bit of spite in her tone.

"But it sounds like a good plan right? I can also summon some stuff now too, so on top of my normal spells, I might be able to have a zombie army work for me."

"Hmm, yeah that does sound good. I'm sure you'll be a wonderful general of the brain dead."

"Whoa, okay those are fighting words. What the hell happened to the nice Pacifica that I drove to dinner and then too dessert? She was awesome and totally not that mean!"

"I was awesome then?" She had previously been staring at her feet out the window, but now turned and made eye contact with him. She pulled her feet back into the car.

"Sure, I mean I like hanging out with you when you don't try to verbally assault me like that. You're normally really nice but every now and then you get so aggressive and I can't keep up with you."

"Huh." And he turned away. She was so frustrating when she wanted to be.

"What now? What's 'Huh' supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, it's just interesting. I guess I really suck at teasing then. I only mean to joke; I guess I just don't know where my lines in the sand sit."

He didn't respond to her saying this. He believed her, she spent so much of her life just being ruthless that it made sense for her to not see where exact lines were, but he was still upset with her because of it. She didn't mean too, but he always was the one to get hurt from it.

"Dipper." She was frightened by him not responding. He wouldn't forgive her then, Maybe he hated her then. Mabel lied then, she had said that he liked her as a friend. That he was forgiving if given reason to forgive. Maybe she needed to give him a reason? Maybe she needed to give him incentive was all that she could think after being unable to come up with excuses.

"Dipper." She repeated and he still didn't look at her, but had moved his head to look at the steering wheel instead of out the window.

She shifted closer to the middle of the car, which wasn't hard considering how tiny the car really was. If he noticed her getting closer he made no change in demeanor to let her know it.

He started lifting his hand to the key in its spot behind the steering wheel, when pacifica reached out and un-gloved hand that cupped the side of his face farthest from her and turned him towards her and closer to her. She wasn't rough in turning his head, and once he was where she needed him to be, she was quick in placing her lips on his.

Dipper was surprised. No, he was shocked. No, he was ecstatic.

He was quick to kiss her back, much to her own surprise, and he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled him closer to him now.

Now Dipper's car was old. Older than it needed to be, but it was cheap and that's why he owned it. But because it was so ancient there was only one front seat, with room for a middle person, like people in old films would drive with. The air bags were sketchy and Dipper installed the seat belts himself. But when he parked earlier, both he and Pacifica had taken off their seat belts. And were now using the single large seat in ways they didn't necessarily show in the old films.

Pacifica was lying on top of Dipper making out with him, with the intention of not stopping until she had to. He was a better kisser then she expected him to be and this was not a problem.

Dipper was over the moon with Paz on top of him, kissing him like the world was really truly going to end. She tasted like cheap ice-cream they had both just eaten, and for whatever reason, also like strawberries. It was heavenly.

It could only last so long though, soon enough Pacifica's phone rang, interrupting the make out session of the decade for the two of them. It was Paul the butler explaining to Pacifica that her father had just inquired as to where she was and that he bout her time saying she was already returned and in the bath. Meaning she had to hurry home so as to not be punished by the master of the manor.

Pacifica wished she could be the teen rebel in the movies that said "Fuck it!" and ignored the warnings, but punishment would detriment Dipper as well.

So with a sigh, Dipper drove her home. She held his hand as he drove though, and she was content with that. It felt like magic under her fingertips, which she wondered what it felt like to Dipper who had cast spells before.

"Huh? Oh no, it doesn't feel anything as good as holding hands. It feels like you cut your fingers and blood was being pulled from them."

"Wow, Dip, you made my very cute question really gross ya know?"

"Well, I mean, I'm not going to lie and tell you it's like being Mickey mouse in that one old movie. The one with the mops ya know?"

"Everyone knows that one Dip, and I guess the truth is nice to know. I definitely don't want to become a witch anytime soon that's for sure."

He chuckled, and he got to her outside gate, but before he called for someone to open the door, he parked a little ways back.

"Uh Dipper? The gate is up there, you have to keep moving and call Paul."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure Paul would kill me for this…"

"For what-"

And Dipper kissed her on the lips. It was sweeter that earlier, not short like a peck either; just a well-timed, and much appreciated goodnight kiss. He was doing fist pumps and cartwheels inside.

"So tonight was definitely a date then?" Pacifica asked this in reference to what she had said earlier in the evening at dinner.

"Absolutely. I mean, well, you want it to be right? I just- I assumed-"

"Dip shush, yes. It was a date then."

And with a cheeky grin he turned his car back on, pulled to the gates, dropped her off, waving goodbye from the car as her butler Paul hurried her off to a side entrance, and she blew a kiss.

With her gone, he had his time to drive home. Which was apparently not much time, considering it was one in the morning and his curfew was midnight. Whoops.

He drove home, taking his time though. He was already late, why not , besides he knew the questions would come flying as soon as he walked in the door. They were all night owls aside from Mabel, but what she couldn't do, she used Mabel Juice to make up for.

When he did get back to the shack, he walked in to see the night owls all asleep on the couch and Mabel in the recliner closest to the door. He was quiet to close the door, now knowing that they were all out. He also got the blankets from the side of the recliner and cover the three of them, four including Waddles who laid on the floor next to Mabel. He shut off the lights and went to his own room. Pacifica had already messaged him.

It was just the general 'tonight was fun' except she ended it with 'you dork' and some x's and o's. He messaged back, that even if he was a dork, she was the one to make out with a dork, he only made out with rich blondes.

She said something back, to which he replied, to which kept them talking until 4 in the morning when he passed out finally.

Even with an oncoming war against the woods, everything seemed so wonderful and right in the world. Dipper couldn't care less.

Life was good to him, even if the one he could feel himself falling for was ruthless and sometimes too mean.

It was only two hours later that Mabel woke up to find the family all covered in blankets and Dipper in his room asleep as well. She was content knowing he was home okay, but she was over the moon when she saw the faint sparkle of lip gloss on the side of his bottom lip. And it was in the ever expensive shade that only one girl seemed to wear.

Oh there would be SO much to talk about later. She could feel it in her match maker bones.

After all, she did love summer romances best.

AN: Hey Guys! I hope you liked the story! Please leave some reviews so I know what to fix and what was best! This story is going to be a whole bunch of one shots and not really going towards a common arch. There are so many baddies and oddities to write about in Gravity falls so sticking to just one could kill me!

Sorry I haven't updated my other stories if you were waiting for those.  
I'm currently working on a chapter for Color in your Cheeks but I don't know when I'll finish it. Probably in the next couple of days but don't hold me to that!

Again though! Please review! It makes me feel like Mabel on four shots of Mabel Juice!


	2. Of Faeries and Deals

It was sort of nice, losing bets and such to Pacifica, which was odd because only three years ago it was like living through hell and coming back to find yourself still on fire.

See now, it was a matter of "You owe me Ice-Cream" and it meant that he would drive to her house, pick her up and she would pay for ice cream at where ever they went. It was really just about her escaping from the Manor for a little while rather than smugly enjoying the fact that he was wrong about something.

Before it was a matter of "You owe me Ice-cream" and he would have to milk a cow, make his own ice cream, deliver it to her before it melted and hope that it was good enough because if it wasn't she'd either make him do it again or come up with something else for him to do. She would be brutal in delivering the consequences of a deal and many cases, ice cream wasn't the payment.

It was really nice to know that even if he lost now a days, he still sort of benefitted because he had a car and wasn't afraid to pick her up from her house. He would never admit this to her, in fear of having to do something horrifying or embarrassing again, but he often thought it was a great change.

Losing became no longer an option when at the age of 17 she changed her price for bets.

"Dipper, it seems like the faeries do like the orange slices after all. You know, like butterflies do."

"Paz, that's not enough evidence to support that they share a common ancestor." His collar felt tight as she smirked. She had more to say then. The tie around his neck could've been a snake trying to strangle him at this point. It was a green tie too, like a viper.

"Yes but wing patterns do. That and the subdivision of woodland faeries have feathers, sharing traits with birds. These faeries are not only lighter than that, they don't have cartilaginous bone structures; instead they're much like that of an insect. PLUS they have a common ratio of head, mid-section, and body that butterflies do."

"Pacifica, I see your argument but you also need to factor in their sentience. Butterflies show no room for where a brain large enough for identity to fit, and though it might have shrunken over time, the faeries that you've been studying have such a large cavity, it's not likely!"

"Oh ho ho Dip, I must say that indeed you are, wrong! If it can minimize over time, it can expand over time. The two share character traits, structural components and environmental preferences! You cannot fool me into thinking that they don't come from a similar ancestor. Face it. I win."

He knew she was right, and he knew he needed to stop making bets with her. But last week when she proposed the idea, he was so sure he could disprove her. Too bad he forgot the different subspecies of faeries and the one she ultimately used to prove her point. They could be cousins for all he knew, and the town's people didn't even see the difference.

"….Fine, you win. Name your price Paz." He admitted defeat with a sigh and a hushed tone. Maybe she would just want to drive around tonight, or go out for desserts like they normally did. He looked up at her when she didn't respond.

She was the slightest bit pink, and since she was so close to him when she was showing him her findings from her own journal. She was standing, sort of leaning on the desk, but wasn't that tall. Dipper was much taller than she even expected he would be when they were children, but he remained seated in his chair.

She kept staring at him, and assuming that she was just coming up with a punishment, he turned away and began taking off his glasses. Then he felt something on his cheek. Wait.

He had felt lips on his cheek.

Instantly turning red, he swung his head back to its side to make eye contact with her. His glasses were still in hand when she spoke, but weren't after.

"I guess that's half of what I really wanted."

"H-h-ha-half?" Dipper sputtered this out unsure if he was embarrassed, uncomfortable or terrified. He grabbed up the glasses he dropped on the desk and shoved them back on his face like a knight would put up a shield.

"Mmhmm… I'll decide what you owe me later though; for now I'm gunna go tell Mabes about our theory being right. She's going to be ecstatic to know that you couldn't argue against me." And with that she hoped up from her leaning seat on the desk and walked out of the room.

He stared at her, entirely red as she left and closed the door behind her. Hes was pretty sure that he could hear her connect her body to the door in a thump once it clicked closed. What was she doing? He could hear his own blood pumping but couldn't hear any definitive sounds of her heels on the old wooden floors.

Dipper got up and walked to the door, now pretty sure she was leaning pressed against it instead of going to talk to Mabel like she had said. He put his hand on the rounded knob and paused trying to figure out in his brain what to say now. He could demand to know what the hell that had been or he could ask what more she wanted and not leave the deal open to her, or he could even tell her that that was all she was getting. The third option probably wouldn't go in his favor, so he scratched that out. Just then Pacifica seemed to make the first step.

The door was opened and Dipper was tripped up as he had gripped the handle so hard and not released it once the door was swung open.

"Oh, sorry Dip. I, um, I left my notebook in here. I need to grab it…"

"Paz what the hell was the- what more did- open deals?" The two questions he had in his mind seemed to scramble together and make nonsense.

"What?"

"I- Sorry. Just, I don't want an open deal with you. What else do you want? Please just tell me something."

"Oh. Yeah I don't know what I wanted Dip, for one of the few times in my life. It's um, it's stressing me out." She fiddled with her hands, but turned away and went to get her journal off of his desk. It was funny that she decided to start keeping one like he and Mabel did.

He began to play with the tie he was wearing. They had done some recon in her house earlier that day because her library was three times larger than the city's one, and to get into the Northwest Manor, dressing up was a thing. It made him even more unsettled to not be in his normal clothing.

She held the binding of the book in the fingertips of both of her hands, its llama cover showing. She walked to where Dipper was standing still sort of by the door, which still hung open, and noticing her walking, stopped playing with his tie and looked to her. She was a good foot shorter than him, so he kind of leaned down in looking at her.

Each step she took seemed measured, and she shifted her journal to be only in her left and non-dominant hand. She only stopped walking when she was a foot away from Dipper and invading his personal space. She had been facing straight in front of her for the last few moments but now looked up to see Dipper's hued face.

He could tell she was embarrassed at first, but then a look of confidence seemed to wash over her face. He could almost see her smirk when she grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her height.

"You have to wear this tie on our first date. That's the end of the deal."

She said it and before he could reply in shock, her mouth was on his. His lips were chapped and hers were soft. He closed his eyes soon enough and began to kiss her back, and once he had, the kiss was a lot better. She pulled away from him after he responded.

"Dipper, I'm sorry, It's just- I, I don't know how you feel-"but she was cut off by him kissing her.

She didn't know how he felt? He wasn't sure either, but he did know a lot about different things. For example, He knew Gravity Falls was evidence of the eight and a half president because it was a play on words, i.e. gravity pulls things down. He knew that he liked Pacifica because she was confident, intelligent and only occasionally mean. He didn't know if he _like liked her_ as Mabel would put it, but he did know now that it was possible. Because he now knew that she wore strawberry lip gloss and that she obviously felt something like that for him.

She released her grip on his tie and moved her hand to the base of his neck. His brown curly hair mixing with her fingers as she pulled him closer into her. His hands were wasting time by his side, but feeling her hand on his neck, he put one behind her own neck and one on her waist.

The exchange didn't really stop except for a few moments here and there to breathe, and even with that in the way, making out seemed to take top priority.

"Hey Pacifica! How's Dip taking the news…" Mabel started this sentence from the end of the hallway and it trailed off because she got to the open door to see her best friend pushing her brother against the wall kissing him.

Mabel's smile did not falter at this sight, and the two didn't really notice her, so her grin grew even more. Waddles, who had been following behind her, made a loud oink noise and the two both seemed to go wide eyed at once.

Pacifica looked like a child with her hand in the cookie jar and Dipper almost mirrored that look if not for seeming a little more anxious about his sister's 'sudden' appearance.

"Oh! Hi Mabel! Dipper and I, We just- I Mean I guess- well- can I talk to you in like 5 minutes upstairs?"

"Sure Paz, let's talk upstairs. Is five minutes enough time for you and Dip though?"

"Five minutes is more than fine!"

"Wonderful." And Mabel gave them the best 'I know and you can't hide from me cause you were caught' smug look possible and took her time walking down the hallway to the stairs. The pig looked at them for a little longer until finally trailing after his owner.

Pacifica turned back around to Dipper and opened her mouth to say something, anything, but wasn't really sure what. She didn't really want to confess her crush on him in the little bit of time that they had and wasn't sure what came next. So she closed her mouth.

"Do you want me to pick you up at 7 or 7:30 tonight?"

"…What?"

"You said I had to wear the tie on our first date, and since I'm already wearing it, I guess tonight is as good as any." He was smiling to himself, he finally had an upper hand on their conversation, and he also had a date. These were both never before things in his life and he loved every second of it.

"Oh! Sure, um, 7:30 is better. And yes, definitely wear the tie." She was red as she remembered that those was her terms and conditions for the deal.

He leaned down again and gave her a peck on the lips, just one last kiss before she braved the inquisition that his sister would soon be bringing forth. It wasn't actually a peck, but it was much shorter than their last kiss, and just as endearing as one.

He then moved from behind her and sat back at his desk, pulling out his invisible ink to write down some codes and a certain date having to do with the blonde. He called over his shoulder:

"Oh and you might want to get going, you know Mabel's five minutes are in squirrels time."

"Yeah, yeah I know dork. I just didn't think you'd be rushing your date out the door like this. But whatever. See you later nerd."

"Yeah okay Ms. Primmadonna, see you"

She gave a 'humph' but smiled to herself as she left the room and closed the door behind her. She kept walking, unlike last time, and made it to Mabel's door. She sighed a little; this was going to be weird. Normally when they talked about boys, it was either Mabel running the conversation about her date of the week or it was hypothetical or it was man hating paired with chocolates and violent movies.

This was going to be a whole new type of conversation.

Of course she had to fall in 'like' with the biggest nerd who has the loudest sister.


	3. Of Gnomes and Jokes

"You're kidding right? You're joking around right now, right?"

Dipper was in disbelief and made sure Pacifica knew it. If she was telling the truth then… Then what the hell?

"Nope, no jokes here but you Dip. I'm queen of the Ghosts and the Gnomes. Try me."

"The whole ghost thing was kind of expected but, really? Jeff? That guy was so lame! Not to mention, you know, HE'S A GNOME."

"He's sweet once you get to know him. Apparently he and Mabel dated the first summer you guys came here. You're just jealous."

"J-Jealous!? Of all the crazy things you've said- No! I'm not jealous! I'm just trying to figure out what the hell made you settle for-" _Am I jealous though?_ Pacifica cut him off mid-sentence and mid-thought.

"Settle, for what? An entire army at my disposal and whim? A sweet caring little man with no flirting game to love me unconditionally? Maybe it's for all the gold their hiding and that's why I so vainly settled. And besides you're always telling me to get off my high horse, who's saying I'm better than him other than you?"

Pacifica looked furious. She felt very much the opposite, about to spill her guts and drop the charade just to laugh at the dumb faces he was making. Mabel was on the other side of the door listening in. The two girls came up with a scheme to get Dipper to stop writing in his stupid journal for once, and it entailed a whole bunch of really bad lies on Pacifica's part. It started off just hilarious, then ludicrous, and now it was starting to feel like an actual argument. As if she would really marry the gnome man.

Dipper was silent at her explosion and seemed to be really, really upset by her 'decision'. Why couldn't she see that she was throwing her life away? They would just hide her in a cave for the rest of her life, and she'd never get to have the adventures that she had with him and Mabel. Plus Jeff was boring, why was she suddenly head over heels with him? She'd never brought him up before this, and their sudden engagement, well, word s failed him.

They were almost twenty, sure, but marriage so soon?

"…Did you do this just to piss off Preston?" He was of course bringing her father into this. It made sense that she would marry the opposite of what he would want for her, but Dipper always thought that he was the opposite in that sense, not a different species. Just that he was the lower middle class income, never really formal, kind of average guy. Not that he was saying he wanted to marry Pacifica, or he expected for her to like him, or for her to want to marry him… His flushed face seemed to Pacifica more like anger rather than embarrassment and she was really surprised at how into this he was.

"No, not intentionally, but it is a nice perk. And you act like I'm casting you and Mabel out of my life! You should know you're going to be the best man at the wedding! I've picked out your tie and everything." She gave a smile to this fake sentiment as if trying to win him over. She wasn't sure when she'd work in that she was lying, this whole thing got bigger than expected. Though, this was all probably a testament to his lack of sleep.

He went and sat back down in his office chair. Sighing as the flopped into the seat and feeling entirely useless. Pacifica was so strongly willed, she wouldn't give up this deal unless she wanted to or something better came along. Then he had an idea.

"So are you sure you're ready to leave the dating pool forever then? No more free lunches or little adventures with other people?"

"uh yeah Dip, that's what marriage entails yes."

"I know that's what it means, I'm just surprised, and I always thought you liked one or two of the guys in town."

"What? Who?" Now she was honestly lost, the kid had sat down in defeat but was now talking like he knew everything again. Plus, she had no idea on god's green earth who he was talking about. It's not like she ever flirted with anyone, maybe every now and then with him, but that was, well, it was more like teasing.

"No one specific, just those you would flirt with when we would all go out to lunch and such."

"Dipper, you are so full of crap, we both know the only person I ever flirt with is you, and even that I don't particularly mean."

Then he got the greatest idea. It was crazy, so sue him, but maybe it would keep Pacifica from running into this weird elopement thing she was planning. He was better than a gnome, Right?

He started searching through his desk drawers looking for it, something he and Mabel found forever ago on an adventure. It was corny, had sentiment and would get his point across. He knew he had it somewhere.

"Dipper, what are you looking for? Dude you're freaking me out, asking me about my dating life and then turning all of your possessions upside down."

And then he found it. Though he was careful not to let her see what it was, and pretending to keep looking. Was he really going to do this? He was only nineteen, even if he did sort of mean it and really sort of liked the idea.

"Well Paz, I don't think I can argue your decision anymore." And he stood up from his seat. He walked the few steps to where she was standing, and seemed to tower over her, as he was at least a foot taller in height.

She looked up at him and her eyebrows scowled together.

"No you can't Dipper, I'm an adult who can make my own choices."

"Then allow me to give you another option," He got onto one knee and she could have screamed, "Paz, will you marry me?" And he showed off the golden ring that he had found so many years ago.

She started screaming. Mabel, who was listening from the other side of the wall started screaming followed by a thump of her falling. Dipper was as lost as ever, now taking in the situation in front of him. He thought it was a good idea, she could have at least just said no…

Taking it as rejection and ignoring the fact that he could hear Mabel on the other side of the wall, he stood up and looked her in the eye. He was really hurt by this, it showed in his eyes, and it scared Pacifica even more. He could tell she was terrified though, and it really perplexed him, was he really that bad of an option?

"Y-y-yes! I'll marry you dipper!" She sputtered it out and couldn't believe she was saying it. Could he be more than just her best friend then? Sure he was cute, and smart and always very nice to her but… He asked her to marry him when she was just joking about gnomes! Just so she could get him to stop writing!

And with that Dipper leaned down and kissed her, their lips connecting and her panic subsiding. Yeah he could be more than best friend if he always kisses like this…

More screaming was heard from the other side of the wall and Mabel came running around and into the room. She was met with the sight of them slowly, and ever so romantically, kissing and began to scream even more though it was mostly mental as she didn't want to interrupt the moment. It was better than she had ever thought possible! She stood there silently as the two parted and Dipper slipped the ring on her finger. Mabel would've recognized the ring anywhere, and she started crying, because Dipper must really love her to give her that.

Pacifica heard Mabel's not-so-silent silent crying and turned to see her bawling in the door frame. Dipper followed Pacifica's motion and when he saw Mabel crying he really wasn't sure how to react. She never cried, and when she did, it was because something was wrong or hay was growing within a five mile radius.

Paz muttered a 'sorry' and separated herself from Dipper to go comfort her friend. She wrapped her in a hug and did her normal hushing noises. Dipper came close, but with Paz holding his sister, he wasn't really sure whether or not to hug her too.

Well at least until Mabel put out her sweater clothed arm and grabbed his shirt to pull him in closer. And so they stood there hugging Mabel to make her feel, better? Dipper wasn't sure what emotion would come out of this sort of hug.

Then Mabel mumbled something.

"Mabel? I'm sorry sweetie, what did you say?" Pacifica replied trying to be as gentle with her as possible, the girl's emotions were like playing with dynamite.

Mabel mumbled it again but started crying as she did so it was lost in translation.

"Sorry Mabes, even I couldn't understand that one."

Then very loudly and very happily all at once Mabel yelled out from beneath the arms of her brother and her best friend now engaged:

"You two are going to have the most beautiful babies!" And then loudly went back to sobbing, though it was now very obviously out of happiness rather than despair.

The two, who had only just had their first shared kiss, went bright red at this notion but were pulled in tighter by Mabel's anaconda like death grip.

"Dipper, we were just lying to get you away from writing your brain away but this the most wonderful thing you've ever done for me." Mabel cried the sentiment out.

"…What?"

"You got me a sister even though we were telling lies about gnomes and lawn flamingos and, I just, I just love you so much Bro- bro! Don't ever break her heart! She's so gentle!"

"Um Mabel, I would have told him later… Gentle? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you're a very sensitive type-"

"That's crazy! I'm nothing but confidence and strength! The only thing sensitive about me is my pinky toes!"

"Now look Paz, there's nothing wrong with-"

"Yeah! No! Nothing's wrong with me being strong and independent!"

And before Mabel could reply and continue their argument Dipper started laughing really hard. The whole Jeff thing was a lie and so obviously so, but Dipper ended the craziness by getting himself engaged. Now they were arguing over Pacifica's character traits? What weirdos.

They stopped arguing to look at Dipper, who pulled himself apart from the hug when he started laughing. He seemed to get it out of his system and looked up at the two who, though hugging still, were watching him.

Dipper stepped forward, gave Pacifica a peck on the lips and went back to laughing as he pushed them out the door and closed it.

"I'm going back to writing! See you guys at dinner!" they could hear from him through the door as he seemed to be walking away, probably back to his work desk.

The two girls made eye contact and Mabel squealed loudly. She separated from the hug and grabbed Pacifica's wrist to pull her up to her own room in the attic, talking the whole way up there about white dresses to the bride to be.

And Pacifica listened to all the bright girl had to say but found herself drifting into her own thoughts.

Most of these thoughts were about how 'Pacifica Elise Pines' had certain sound to it.

AN: Hey guys! Hope you liked the story! Please leave me a review if you liked it or hated it or if something needs to be fixed!

Have a great day kiddos! : )


	4. Of Aliens and Quality Time

Of course something wrong had to happen. A normal camping trip would've been boring, sure, but really? At this point something boring would be appreciated.

"You! Yeah You! Get off my planet!" The blonde heiress was screaming as she threw a rock at the just recently landed space ship. Really, a night out with her best friend without all of this crap would have been heaven. Dipper, was currently being useless however, taking pictures and writing in his journal. He seemed overly giddy despite that all his charms protecting them from the monsters in the woods had been destroyed and that they had no idea what these 'tourists' wanted.

It was less like the traditional UFO flying saucer look, more like a bubble mixed with a car and giving off the sheen of blue from the metal 'door'. Pacifica was beside herself and was already gathering more rocks to through, and making her way back to the campsite to grab her ghost axe.

Once it was in hand, her anger was a bit subsided but she still had full intentions to going back to how it was prior to the landing.

"This is AMAZING Paz! Hey- whoa- no stop throwing rocks! We have to be peaceful! Have you not seen any movies!" Dipper finally spoke to her since his initial 'Holy shit' and grabbing of his journal and camera.

"Dipper Really? This-" she was soon cut off by the door opening with a couple clicks. There wasn't a smoke affect like in the movies that's for sure. It was really both amazing and super obnoxious to the blonde. She shut up though, wanting to know how this played out.

A group of three little blue fluff balls came out of the ship and seemed to be unarmed. They went straight for the dirt and scuttled around in it for a time. It was a little underwhelming.

Dipper was inching closer and closer to them, trying to get a better picture as well as trying to see a bit more into their ship.

Pacifica wasn't feeling the whole 'let's be quiet and see what happens' crap. This was stressful as hell and she wanted it done and over with as soon as possible. She just wanted to roast marshmallows and have a normal camping trip like most people her age had already had by now. Sure it was amazing to see such an odd lifeform that could possibly have travelled light year to get there but, what the hell? Tonight? Of all nights, they chose this one.

"Hey! You three! Stop it right there!" They seemed to turn to her and Dipper whipped his head back to see her. He was white as a sheet and was pretty sure she could be signing her death certificate at this point.

"I would like you all to leave. Come back in two planet rotations and not a minute sooner. Understand that you will do this or I will destroy your little escape pod over there."

"Paz! You don't even know that they understand you! Stop being so forceful with them!" Dipper was freaking out. They knew so little! How could they make these demands? How was she so confident with all of this!? The truth was that she had little confidence but was acting out of her own self-interest and her fear of being completely and utterly wrong.

"If they don't understand me, then I will make myself clear! If they can travel through space, they can understand basic gestures." She was returning to her earlier anger, and placed the head of the axe on the ground in a thump, the hilt of it still in her hands.

But the three did seem to understand, and crawled their way to the little rocket ship. The ship itself was maybe as tall as a horse; the little aliens were maybe a little smaller than Waddles.

They packed themselves into the oblong machine and up the door went, and then up went the ship itself. Dipper was floored by all of this.

"You got pictures right? That was crazy."

"Pacifica…"

"They were super bad with timing but at least we know about when they'll be back. Well that is if they decide to comply with my demands. If they even come back at all."

"Paz…"

"I know right? Holy shit. That was crazy! But maybe they actually understood me then."

"Uhh"

"Well you know me, add enough force to people and stuff gets done. Who knew it'd work on aliens. You got the pictures right? I think their ship might've left some marks too, let's get pics of that too and then we can go back to the fire."

He had forgotten all about the fact that they were camping out, he was so excited about the aliens that nothing from before seemed to have stuck in his brain.

"PAZ! You got rid of them before we could learn anything! Why would you do that!? And you were absolutely risking your life by charging in like that! Why the hell were you so reckless!?"

Pacifica didn't know what to respond, but her thoughts of going back and laying down by the fire soon disappeared. Maybe she ought to go home instead.

Her face seemed to show her lack of comfort and because she didn't reply verbally Dipper carried on, talking about risks and the opportunities and freaking out about having seen aliens.

So, with her axe in hand, she walked the 15 feet back over to their campsite and started packing up her stuff.

"Hey! Hey! Why are you packing up? We have the whole weekend and they could come back any minute! Are you, are you leaving?"

"Yep."

"Really Paz? You get rid of them and then you're going to leave me alone in the woods?"

"Yep."

"…Look I'm sorry I blew up on you. Please at least tell me why you're leaving." He sighed into this statement. Pacifica was harsh and determined, once she had an idea, that's how she would act until it was done. Sure the confidence and self-worth were great side effect of this, but sometimes she could be way too rash.

"Because I screwed up! My first reaction was to act like a mad man and get rid of them! I didn't even try to learn! And, and, and I don't want to be like that! Not when I can be so much better! And it pissed you off, don't deny it, and I'm just, done. I want to go before I screw up even more stuff. I'm just, I'm sorry Dipper."

"Aw Paz, sure the rock throwing was a bit much, as was the axe, and ordering them to leave… But you were just rushing out of instinct! I mean I get it! I've ran from things I'd never seen before, I just, I guess I expected you to be a little more… gentle with the situation. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Well don't worry about it kiddo. I'm gunna go stay with Mabel in the shack. There are too many bugs out here anyway, I have to keep up my primmadonna lifestyle after all."

"Or you could stay here! And we could go back to the fire!"

"Yeah and do what by the fire? Lament about the aliens? I don't think so pines."

Oh shit she was really upset if she using his last name. Sure he was angry that the opportunity was lost, but they existed and that was knowledge enough for right now. Pacifica's existence and her being near was far more important after realizing how upset she really was. She didn't blow it off like she normally would about things she messed up; because she apologized she really must have meant it. She never apologized unless she felt like crap about something.

"Or maybe I could tell you about some adventures, or we could go on a late night adventure, or um, I don't know we could like, cuddle? Or something like that by the fire?"

This was a 50/50 shot, she would either really want the physical contact that came with cuddling or would really want the normal dirt and grime that came with adventures. Potentially, she would want neither and that meant he was totally fucked because he would have no idea how to make it up to her.

He had walked over to her when saying all of this and, using his height against her, slung his arms over her shoulders and effectively rested on top of her. It was a risky move. But it met no initial 'Fuck off' so he was in the clear. He placed his head down, laying it half in the crook of her neck, half on his own arm which covered her shoulders.

She stopped putting crap into her bag and set it down with the weight of the teenage boy hanging on her. She really should just leave with an apology and never think about it again. She sighed though, thinking about leaving and actually leaving were very different tasks.

"Are you going to lay on top of me the whole time I try to walk back to the shack?"

"if it keeps you hear longer and takes you longer to get back, then yes, I will continue to hang on you."

Dipper was never this touchy, sure he liked physical contact, but going out of his way to touch her was…odd. Knowing it to be so out of character for him made it hard for her to enjoy it. He was obviously trying hard to prove he wasn't upset, but she was having a hard time believing that it hadn't bothered him as much as she thought it had.

"Get off of me."

And he, hearing the stern voice that she normally reserved for idiots or her father, obliged though a bit slowly and with his attitude on full display.

But rather than finishing packing, she simply turned around and hugged him. This was a turning point in his night for sure seeing as she didn't really return lots of affection except for on birthdays and after really bad things happened, and he was quick to jump in and hug her back.

So they stood there holding and being held by one another for a little while. The fire was still going from when it was first lit and the bag of Pacifica's stuff sat on the ground only half full.

But apparently, with all the contact and the joy he had from the events that had unfolded that night, Dipper was a bit more confident that normal.

He pulled away from the hug for a second and when he did the flash of confusion showed on Pacifica's face, she was obviously not done hugging him. But instead of untangling his arms from her and stop touching her completely like she expected him to do, he made eye contact with her.

"Hey Paz, this might be a bit much, but do you think I could kiss you just this once?"

She was floored. He, Dipper Pines, wanted to kiss her? It was an odd thought. The only people who had ever voiced wanting to kiss her were the creeps her parents would set her on dates with, and they normally just tried to act instead of asking. But, Dipper? She had no idea that that could even possibly be a thing, that Dipper could, could like her like that. Could like her in that way and not in the best friend way that she always figured he did.

He was waiting for an answer from the girl, whose face had gone blank and suddenly very, very serious, but she was frazzled and wasn't quick to respond.

He did then as she predicted earlier and untangled himself from her. He was bright pink from what she could tell; the only light was that which was coming off of the fire made it hard to read him as easily as she could in day light.

He stepped back and decided to take it upon himself to add more firewood to the growing flames in their makeshift fire pit. They had chopped all the wood earlier in a competition against him with a regular axe and her with a ghost axe. She had won with time to spare.

He sat on the log and looked back over to Pacifica. She was still in the same spot with the same expression on her face, as if frozen in time. She came out of it soon enough after he had sat down though, and went to sit next to him. She still hadn't said anything.

How could she though? She had ruined his night with getting rid of the aliens and was going to leave him alone in the woods by himself? In what measure, respect or regard did that count her worthy of the boy's kisses?

She decided she was being a wuss about it all when he added some brush to the fire to make it grow temporarily. When he was back in his seat from this action however, she moved diagonally and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Because hell, if she was going to be kissed by the boy she had admired and sort of liked in that way in for such a long time, she was going to start it.

He had an initial shock to her lips being on his cheek but was soon able to speak.

"So I'll take that as a yes."

And he reached over, put a hand up to cup her face and kissed her as sweetly as possible on the lips. It wasn't a long kiss but it wasn't a short peck either. She pulled away from him first.

"…But why? I did everything wrong?"

"I don't know. Maybe your just really pretty and I wanted to, maybe I really respect you and figured out that you were really upset by what you did and wanted to express that things were all the better if not just fine the way they are."

"You're way too forgiving Dip. If we were twelve you would have felt so betrayed by me and probably wouldn't speak to me for a full year."

"Yeah well I'm not twelve and neither are you. We can do grown up things like forgiving, and kissing and pay taxes. It's amazing how much bigger the world is once you're not so small and awkward."

"Please, we both know I've never had an awkward day in my life. My parents have thrown enough money at me to make that possible."

"Oh I disagree though. Remember that time you didn't know what Mabel and I had meant by eating worms and started freaking out about having to go into the garden and find some so you could fit in. You were pink the rest of the day when we told you we just meant the gummy worms we would eat at the movies. You were so uncomfortable."

"Well it was embarrassing! And that's completely different from being awkward."

"You're right, awkward is leaving some one hanging after they ask to kiss you." He shifted closer to her now, facing her as they sat on the log under the starry sky. They were close enough to still talk, but their thighs touched and his hand was behind her and laying on the log.

"Oh my god Dipper! That was not awkward! Maybe you felt awkward but I was doing just fine once I processed what you said."

"Okay then awkward is you not kissing me again."

She then used their rather close proximity to prove him wrong. Her kiss was much less tender than his, but instead felt, hungry.

She kissed him for a little while longer before she nibbled on his bottom lip just the slightest bit. He, though was later embarrassed to think about, moaned into the kiss. She used this as an opportunity. With his mouth open just the slightest as he moaned she snuck her tongue into the kiss and things get a little more extreme from there.

He made a mental note to himself that she was now making out with him and that he had no idea what to do and that he needed to figure it out quickly. It felt amazing but he felt incompetent not knowing if what he was doing was any good. She moaned a little once he started responding though, and he took it as a sign that he could be doing a lot worse.

She pulled him lower and closer into her when she placed her arms around his neck and he decided from there to place his hand onto her waist and lean forward into her; this lead to her laying down onto the log with him half on top of her and their mouths still connected and still exploring. It then also lead to him losing balance on the log and falling off of her with a little 'ack' sound and a thump of him hitting the ground.

She remained on the log with all this happening, and when he finally fell she couldn't help but laugh at the kid. It was just too good, she had tears in her eyes.

"awe come on you don't have to laugh…" was grumbled from bellow her by a very embarrassed teen aged boy who flipped himself over to not be resting on his face. She decided not to waste time.

"Sure I don't have to, but it's more fun if I do." And she rolled herself off of the log and over Dipper, her arms holding her above him braced beside each side of his head.

"Stop trying so hard to be a kill joy Dip." And with that she lowered herself onto him, kissing him once more, though Dipper could now feel her smile into the kiss. He decided to do unto to her as she had unto him, and began to nibble at her lip though much less gently than she had. The noise she made was way better than hearing her laugh at him.

And so they kissed, on and on, until they suddenly heard something snap from behind them.

Pacifica was quick to get off of Dipper and flip herself around into a fighting pose and see a…gnome?

What? But Dipper had put up all those protection and ward spells earlier, right?

… oh no.

"Dipper. Did the spaceship land on the spot where you put the different amulets and hexes?"

"Yeah it did, why? Oh fuck is that a gnome? Oh fuck that's why." And off the boy was speeding to grab his journal where the spells were written and the backup supplied that he had brought. Thank god he thought ahead some for once. Oh there was a sticky note from Mabel on it. 'Don't forget these! YOU NERD! : D" . So maybe he hadn't thought ahead… But none the less he was soon in a position far enough from the fire but close enough to the campsite to set up some new ward spells.

There were more noises coming from the surrounding forest though the fire didn't illuminate there figures. Pacifica marched over and grabbed her axe, holding it with ready-to-fight intentions.

Dipper had the Rose quartz in hand and was setting up the net of protection around him through his spell when a vine started grabbing at his leg. Messing up the pronunciation could kill them all in the middle of a spell though, so he just hopped Paz would notice.

Sure enough she did and went over and cut off its out reaching stem. She hacked it a couple times more, farther down it just to make sure it would stay away until the shield was up.

She made like a golfer, and swung the gnome out of the camp ground circle with the head of her axe. Sure it would piss him off, but Dipper was almost done and she had to look out for other things. Plus if she hadn't it would've been stuck inside the force field and that meant no more peace, or kissing. And she was not okay with missing out on the later.

Dipper finished the final incantation and a pink bubble appeared around them, quickly dissipating and turning invisible, but there none the less.

Dipper made a remark about the vine and that he was scared of messing up the verse with calling for her help, in doing this, thanking her for not letting it snatch him. She took this appreciation and said something about pissing off the gnomes. More was said later on, as they talked and talked until day break. Some of that communication was through holding hands, some through kissing but at least half of it was through talking.

When it was bright enough to see, they decided that instead of falling asleep and waiting to be discovered by random hikers in the woods, they might as well pack up and go home. And so they did, holding hands the whole way back, though talking was a little sparse as she was so tired. Dipper felt pretty much the same as normal seeing as he is an insomniac but was giddy knowing that she felt so much for him.

The shack was in full swing when they returned, the gift shop bustling about with people. Wendy and Soos working and only looking at their linked hands, deciding it best to tease them when Pacifica didn't look like she would tear off their heads if either brought it up. The older mystery twins must have been running tours since they weren't in the shack. Mabel was spending the weekend still with her friends Candy and Grenda and probably wouldn't be back until late that night. All Pacifica wanted to do was pass out on a soft bed. Dipper wouldn't mind just drinking some coffee and moving on with his day, but Pacifica kept their hands locked as she walked to his bedroom.

She released his hand to crawl under the covers of his duvet, and simply glared at him when he suggested him going to get coffee. He got the message and crawled into the bed, holding her as she fell asleep. Amazingly enough, he fell asleep alongside her, and the two only woke up when they heard Mabel's screaming from inside the room. _Oh fuck she has a camera_ was thought by both Pacifica and Dipper but neither moved to do anything about it. Sleep was better than dealing with what could be put off and managed later. Dipper was able to share this sentiment from his spot buried in Pacifica's neck and his body holding her curled into him.

Screw aliens, this was a way better outcome.

AN: Sorry not sorry im working on silly short like these instead of my ongoing stories…  
I've just hit a block with them and a break is necessary. I suck at writing Bill but I made his appearance inevitable… blehhh… Hope you guys like this story!  
The aliens don't come back. I just wanted to do this to reflect on the fact that aliens are in the title sequence but still not seen in the series, and this is why I only had them actually in the story for such a short length of time. It makes me stupid angry and this is how I've coped with it.

Please leave a review! Even if it's just a bodiless head screaming; the screams will fill me with the inspiration to write.


	5. Of Ice-Cream and Giving up

Dipper knew that Pacifica and Mabel were below him and judging his handiwork but he tried desperately to ignore them and forget that they were there. He had to hang a new satellite disc on the top of the roof and to do so was on a ladder on top of the floor of the roof. It was dangerous and they were distracting. Every now and then Mabel would start conversation with Pacifica but it often went either ignored or responded with one or two word answers, nothing Dipper would pay attention to.

"Okay, so stop staring at Dip's ass and tell me for real, do you think your peacock James would get along with Waddles? I'm really feeling a potential friendship there." Mabel was louder in tone, obviously calling her out so Dipper could hear too… was Paz really checking him out? Is that possible?

"Mabel please, just let me enjoy the view, and I honestly have no idea, you know my parents don't let me see them often anymore." Pacifica sounded level in this answer, not getting much louder but definitely replying in a volume he could hear.

Dipper would later wonder back to this moment in time and wonder what would have happened if he had just kept working. But no, he turned around and stared at her, his eyes wide and his butt no longer in her view.

"Grreat Mabel, now it's gone. Hi Dipper, we thought you were going to ignore us forever. Mabel's been antsy with bad theories." Pacifica was smiling coolly. She was dressed as she normally was these days, purple sundress and large straw hat. Her eyes were marked with her signature purple eyeshadow but no other make-up was obvious to him. Her smile now, almost, seemed like a smirk after he made eye contact with her and felt himself turn pink.

"Hey! They're not bad theories! They just need a little love to help them grow, I'm sure of it!" Mabel sounded defensive but was obviously okay with her best friend's harsher teasing. Mabel also seemed completely fine with the fact that her best friend was sizing up her own twin.

Pacifica turned and was talking to Mabel, the two girls grinning and exchanging more conversation. Dipper got down from his spot on the roof where he had been hanging the disc and then made his way to the ledge of the roof to hear what they suddenly had to say so quietly.

When he peered over the ledge he was met by the two grinning up at him, knowing that he wanted to be part of their fun.

"Hey Dip Dop!" Mabel exclaimed this loudly, "We're going for ice cream! Come join us!"

"I don't know Mabel, I think I'm gunna try some journal spell stuff today…" but he was met with a very upset look from Mabel and a scowl from Pacifica, "…Okay sure, let me grab my wallet. I'll be down in a second." These girls were going to be the death of him.

He went in through the attic window, the room now being his sister's which he heard a faint "Hey!" from outside, but kept going through. It was like she was still twelve; the only thing that had changed was the type of boys that were on her posters. Apparently the blonde and blue eyed boy band was out.

He made his way down stairs, into his own room where he grabbed his wallet that had been on his desk and made his way out of the house. His two elders not present for him to give his goodbyes to.

When he got outside and reunited with his sister and apparent admirer, it was obvious Mabel had said something big because Pacifica was standing up very tall, wide eyed and very pink. Mabel grabbed them both by their arms and started chatting away as they went to the only ice-cream stop in the small town. They were almost there when Mabel switched to Pacifica's side and shared something into her ear.

"Mabel now you're just being mean and you know that's my job. Don't leave me here with him! You said-"But she was cut off by the effervescent girl.

"And I lied! Should've gotten it in writing! Oh and See you later Bro-Bro! I've got a date so you can take Paz to ice-cream for me!"

Dipper was curious why his sister decided to not inform him about such a date, because she normally did so he had time to do a background check on the punk whoever he turned out to be.

"…Alright, See ya Mabes. Remember, you're better at a right hook than a left!"

She screamed back a goodbye as she was already walking away, but when Dipper turned around and started walking to the ice-cream place, Pacifica looked back to see Mabel grinning. Mabel winked at Pacifica and Pacifica returned it with sticking out her tongue.

Her and Dipper walked another few minutes before they got to the little stand in the middle of town.

"Hey Dip, it's on me, what do you want?" were the only words to come from her their whole walk, and she had only said it once in front of the little old man and his little set up shop.

"Oh, thanks Paz. I'll just have the vanilla I guess."

"Boring, but whatever," She turned away and ordered Dippers and a mint chocolate chip for herself. He didn't take offence to her calling him boring, she either said that or weird, it was pattern with her.

The bill only came to twelve dollars but Pacifica paid with an hundred dollar bill. This was normal with her too, she liked to get rid of money to piss of her parents and she secretly liked making the day of whoever received it, but she wrote it off as "I can't have him closing up shop Dipper. Who else would I buy ice-cream from?"

"You could get it from the grocery store Paz. Just admit it, you like being nice to him!"

"If I got it from the store, that would mean I escaped long enough to go there and even when I got it, you expect me to scoop my own ice-cream? Please, you call me a primmadonna but you clearly don't know what it entails."

"Psh, you have so many butlers, I'm sure you could one of them to make you a bowl of ice-cream."

"I only like my Ice-cream in a cone. Don't be obscene."

"You can buy the cones at the grocery store! Come up with another excuse!"

"Well, I wouldn't have your ever so pleasant, know-it-all company to have ice-cream with if he went out of business."

"Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying our time together, you make it seem just so special."

"Get over yourself Dipper, just because I get to have that much ego, doesn't mean you do."

"I dunno Paz, I'm starting to think this was a plan of yours and Mabel's…" And instantly Pacifica turned pink when he said this. Huh? They had been teasing each other, why was she embarrassed now?

"On what evidence Pines?" was all Pacifica replied with.

"Well you definitely complimented my ass earlier, and Mabel had a date she didn't clear with me first, both things that don't ever happen when we go out for desserts."

"It's a special occasion maybe."

"But what occasion could it be? It's not an anniversary or anything…Is it?" he was now internally questioning himself on today's date, not entirely sure if it was the 11th or the 12th and not sure what was on either of those days.

"Nothing really. Just my day of birth and a whole lot of hell from my parents who are throwing a party later tonight."

"What!? It can't be your birthday! Mabel and I would have known and would have planned something!"

She didn't reply to him with anything other than a bored look and dug her license out of her purse. Sure enough it was the 12th and that must have been today.

He returned it and guilt started rushing in.

"Sorry Paz, we would have had our own party had we known… No! There's still time! We can head back to the shack, I'll grab the car and we can get birthday supplies. I'll call up Mabel, make some secret plans with her and we'll have the party before you have to be at your parents' house!" He started listing out all of this and didn't really notice how uncomfortable Pacifica was acting and how she was feeling.

"That's not really possible considering I have to be back in an hour for a clothes fitting and make up."

Dipper was baffled. Had she really spent the whole day just bumming around with Mabel instead of celebrating? Maybe it was like Soos though; maybe she had a reason for not liking her birthday. He asked her, even though it was personal, and she quickly responded.

"No, my birthdays had always been everything I wanted them to be until I was thirteen and wanted answers instead of a cake and party. Remember? That was the year I became really close with Mabel, I went over to the shack that night after they scolded me."

He didn't really remember. He knew at one point she came over to the shack and didn't say anything about it being beneath her and ended up staying the night. And he knew that from that point sleep overs became a frequent thing, even to this day.

"Aw geez Paz, I-"

"Don't show pity to me Pines, it could be seen as affection. I wouldn't want you to think we're something as crazy as friends."

He took the hint that she didn't want him to lament on it.

"You've been kind of quiet today. Normally you're all for keeping up with Mabel's chatty conversation."

"I like to think that I'm normally a bit nicer to you as well."

"I mean, yes there's that too but I really wasn't going to push it."

"Yeah well, I decided a year or so, maybe three years even, ago with Mabel that once I turned eighteen that I'd say some words to you."

"You're going to 'say some words to me'? Way to be vague."

"Shut it Dip, I've just really liked you for the past couple of years and its damaging to my pride."

"What does that even mean? You've 'really liked me' is so vague again! Is that a confession? Is it an apology for being mean? Is it a promise not to kill me in my sleep?"

"I suppose it could be seen as all three. Now eat your ice-cream. I didn't pay to have it melt before consumption."

"Oh, sorry… But wait! You like me? I thought you just kind of tolerated me, especially on days like today when you barely speak to me."

"Yeah well, you've never looked twice my way so don't think too much about it. I just had to tell you because Mabel's been making me promise too since we were like Fourteen."

"Four years ago!?"

"I said don't make a big deal of it Dipper!"

"I just, I don't know. I feel bad I guess."

"You shouldn't, I was just being selfish. You were very kind to me and you showed me the frauds that my parents were. You showed me a way to fight against them. Those were the reasons why. Now I've grown up a bit and come to terms with you as my friend. Don't try to make anything of this. Don't feel bad. It's over and dealt with, I just couldn't deal with Mabel yelling at me for not telling you."

"oh."

"Yep. Well, I spent all of this time yelling at you and now I have to go back to the Manor. You and Mabel and all her friends are invited of course. It's a total snooze fest without you guys."

"Okay, well, we'll see you tonight then."

"Yep. And Dipper?"

"Yeah?"

"Wear the green tie please."

AN: Hey Guys! Updates today, who knew?  
To a couple of my offline reviewers: _These are NOT continuing stories_, the first one might get a follow up, MAYBE. Please don't tie them together, it wouldn't make sense, they're just **one shots.**

I don't really like this one but I like a lot of things in it. I like to think that she had a major crush on him after the events of the Manor Noir, but convinced herself it would never happen and after years of trying, finally gave up on him. I started off the story with her kind of still hopeful, but ended it with her stronger conviction of fact over feelings.  
I want to change a lot of this story and might in the future… let me know what you think… Sorry if it sucks!


	6. Of Days Out and Repeat

Just a heads up! If you've read my story 'House Call' then you've read this short! I decided to move it because... I dont know, i just wanted to.

Sorry for not _really_ updating.

Pacifica was a daily jogger. Every morning she would run around the town, maybe once, maybe twice, building up stamina. Sometimes she would even add ankle weights, to make her longs stronger for when running would be a matter of life and death. Sure it wasn't often the case, but hanging around the Pines twins made it all the more likely. That and it was a great excuse to get out of her god awful 'home'.

She faintly recalled it being a Wednesday when she felt the earth move beneath her feet, or maybe it was when she held the ring in the palm of her hand.

The twins had called her first thing that morning, bright and early at 6 o'clock for an adventure that seemed to have a time limit. She grumbled at first but soon made herself ready with a back pack and supplies, it didn't take long with a semi prepared bag already left from an adventure two or three days ago. Water bottles, because the two were dehydrated idiots, plenty of medical emergency stuff, because they were impractical idiots, and her axe.

The axe she grabbed from the wall. It was the very same one that had tried to kill her all those years ago but now it stood as more to her. With it presiding over her bed, she woke every morning to the reminder that she would have to work and strive to change the family ways and prove herself to be all the better. That and it had a mean edge, so attacking was easier and more effective.

She went down the back stairs from her room, they led almost straight to the garage where her car was housed, but there was a break in the path where she would have to go through the 3rd and smallest living room in the house. It was rarely used but still posed as a potential threat if her parents happened to see her trekking through with the cursed axe looped through a belt.

Thankfully, she hadn't been caught yet. Several times she was close to being discovered in her march or even when she was almost to her little red car, but her parents still lacked any solid evidence against her. That and the butlers and maids liked her much better than the Master and Madame of the manor, so asking them to keep it hush hush wasn't too terribly hard.

Getting in the car that Dipper oh so affectionately called "Carla", she opened the garage door and was off to the mystery shack. The drive was quick, and no interesting news played on the local radio which was now being written by Candy, Mabel's longtime friend. She never got on air except for emergencies, but the grammar was night and day since she got her first internship and later job there.

Parking where she normally did, not in the tourist section but in the back lot next to Dipper's deathtrap of an engine on wheels and the Stanley Mobile, she was earlier than she had realized. Mabel had said meet at 7 and it was only 6:50, but waiting seemed lame when she knew there was chaos going on in the little shack.

She marched to the front door and let herself in, the decision she made already proving to be the better one.

Dipper was hollering that she was taking too long, she was screaming the lyrics to a Sev'ral Timez song just to piss him off, the two elders were arguing over something and the pig had just fallen off of the couch and was squealing like a mad man. It was great to be home.

She went to stop Waddles from his torment of being on his back, and that quickly led to holding a very loving pig who cried when let go. She sat on the couch waiting to be noticed but still just enjoying the noise they all made. The manor was always pin drop silent.

Dipper came down stairs in a matter of moments and ran straight to the kitchen. Something was said to the older mystery twins and they all laughed at him.

"She's already here you dig-bat! She's been sitting on the couch with the pig for the last couple of minutes! YOU'RE the one who's running late!" She believed it was the grandpa that said this, their voices sometimes sounded close enough that it would take her a while to figure out if not in front of them.

"Yeah and put a shirt on ya hippie! Where's your sense of modesty in front of ladies anymore?" this was definitely his Grunkle. Wait he was shirtless?

Dipper ran in, with a toasted freezer waffle in his mouth and another in hand, he waved with the unoccupied hand and continued back up the stairs. He was red in the cheeks; Like she'd never seen him shirtless before, what a weirdo.

It was quiet among the elders for a little bit, picking fun at Dipper for a little while longer, but screaming started again from upstairs.

"Mabel! You have to let me in! I have your food! Please I need to get my shirt and hat from in there! Please!"

The door was slammed open from what she heard, and Mabel's laugh was heard through the house.

"Paz is down there then? Look how cute you are, So Pink! Hey! Augh-" Her giggling at Dipper soon stopped and some fumbling was heard, but her laughing came back soon enough.

Mabel made her way downstairs a grin on her face and a pink sparkling heart on her blue sweater. She also had a waffle in hand, courtesy of Dipper Pacifica was sure.

"Hey girl! You're early as always! Too bad you're a llama and not a robin! Cause then you'd always get the worm!" Mabel soon came to the couch to put on her shoes that had been left there from the day before. Waddles was over joyed at the sight of his owner and squished his way out of Pacifica's arms and onto the spot next to Mabel. Once her shoes were tied se greeted him with zealous amounts of love.

"Yeah too bad huh, you know how much I love worms. What's today's plan? What sort of creature or plant are we after?" Pacifica responded to her greeting with the normal amount of sass.

"Well my plan of the day is to get Dipper to kiss you. But I don't know what plans Poindexter's made other than it was something to be done before noon."

"Mabel, you're way too blunt about all of your Match making stuff you know? And please, we all know he never will." It was disappointing to say, but she'd given Dipper opportunity after opportunity to make a move, and the boy was too dense, too afraid or too uninterested to do so.

"Hmm, that may be true in your mind, but I like to leave all the possibilities open. I even have a sweater made for it! And it sparkles! Anything could happen Pacici~!" It explained her clothing choice and scared her a little bit. Pacifica had heard stories of Mabel taking risks of smashing Dipper into strange closets during adventures to try and make romantic progress in his life. Pacifica could only hope that Mabel would refrain from doing anything so dramatic on this mission.

Loud footsteps were heard behind them as Dipper ran down the stairs. He sure was going fast this morning.

"I'm grabbing my keys now! Get to the car before I do or get left behind!" he announced as he ran to his room to do just as he said he would. The girls didn't think to question him, quickly getting up and walking to the door. Mabel turned and waved, saying her goodbyes to her favorite old men, and Pacifica said goodbye as she was walking out the door. Dipper was soon behind them and had a huge smile on his face.

"Okay Pacifica, you're shotgun, I need you to read the map while I drive. And Mabel, before you say anything, the last time you had the job of navigator you had us in another state faster than it should've been possible."

Mabel had had her mouth open, but with the end of Dipper's argument, she simply made some grumbling sounds and made mental plans to make this work to her advantage.

And an hour into the road trip, nothing happened between them. Mabel compared it to trying to make romance happen to dead fish. She even dared to voice this opinion to them.

"Wha- Mabel come on, seriously? You're really going to talk about this in front of her? And we're just friends! Stop doing this!" Dipper was pretty worked up over this, Pacifica decided not to join in the fight however, Dipper was going to have his beef with Mabel, it had been coming with every remark she had made this morning.

Their hands touched when he gave her the map, and nothing was said, which was stupid to think would happen considering how close they had gotten when she patched him up. Mabel was loud about it. When Pacifica pulled out her phone and typed in the address, navigating with a GPS like everyone but cavemen did, and argued with Dipper about it, Mabel talked and talked about how they were like a married couple. BABBA came on the oldies radio station, and as soon as they were all done singing together, Mabel went into detail about how they had a matching pitch for their little duet.

To sum it up, anything they did, she made very loud comments about how they could be doing it as a couple. Sure it was a bit annoying, but it was just Mabel having her fun, Pacifica didn't mind. Dipper was way embarrassed though.

Dipper was really unsure how he felt about Pacifica. She was his best friend, his medic and more often than not, a sort of emotional confidant. Being able to kiss her or take her on dates would be awesome, but he really couldn't tell if that was even possible. Whenever Mabel went on tirades like this, she was never embarrassed! She never really showed any interest in being anything with him either, she always talked about how she would always be there for him or whatever, but he didn't know if that was just as friends or not. He lived for the world of deductive reasoning, but this girl was an unbreakable poker face.

"Bro Bro, of course I'm going to talk about it in front of her! She wants to be something just as much as you do! I don't know why you guys need me to say this stuff but I apparently have to or nothing gets done!" She was yelling back at him, now showing frustration rather than just playing around.

"Dipper, turn left at the next stoplight." Was all Pacifica would contribute for now. She was getting a bit red with them fighting in front of her, and for the first time, a bit embarrassed. She was always so sure about how she felt about Dipper that she assumed everything would just work out, Mabel's claims made her feel a little, well, like she was losing. Like she was incapable. Like she was the loser her parents told her she always would be.

Dipper turned off the radio, as he always did in tense situtaions, and put on his left blinker. He was glad Pacifica was still directing them, but was now unhappy that she had come just to hear Mabel complain about how they needed to get together or whatever she had in mind.

"Mabel, I know you like to say this stuff, don't try to pretend you're doing it to benefit me or her. You're being really selfish and honestly, really rude. Stop butting in." Dipper wasn't yelling at her like he had been before, meaning he was really angry, angry enough to become the sort of false calm that he usually only resorted to if speaking to a demon or to an bully in school.

Mabel was hysterical. She started rattling off every little thing, Dipper would spit back his retort, and she would go off again. Pacifica only added in when she had a direction for Dipper to drive.

"Dipper, Mabel. We're here." This was all Pacifica said as she got out of the car, all her stuff in tow, and began walking away.

The twins were still bickering as they got out of the car; now arguing over who knows what, when they finally acknowledged and saw Pacifica at least 50 feet away already. She was alrady heading into the forest patch Dipper had marked on the map as having the "Gem". This was all he wrote on the map, the rest was in the journal in his own back pack.

"Great now she's trying to escape us because you couldn't back off." Was all Dipper said before he started running to catch up with her. He knew there were some traps put in place that they would have to get through, and her charging in alone would probably go poorly. Mabel followed suit and ran to get to Pacifica.

"Alright fine! I'm Sorry Paz! I shouldn't have said anything! Please stop marching off!" She exclaimed, trying to get the blonde to stop.

They were now hiking an incline steeper than before, Dipper made an observation of this in his head, the map said there was relatively low altitudes here. Why were they suddenly going up a mountain?

Pacifica finally did stop. She pulled her axe out of the belt loop, and held it in a battle ready position. The twins, still being at least 15 feet behind her and unable to see what was ahead of her, took out their own weapons of choice. Dipper had a bottle of some sort that he had prepared the night before, and some spells already coming to mind. Mabel pulled out her ever trusty grappling hook and her bowie knife.

But Pacifica didn't go forward as if to fight. She turned around and looker at the twins who had come closer to her in fear that they would have to fight so soon.

Instead of looking past her and seeing a monster, they saw her turn and watched tears stream down her face.

"I can't deal with this. I'm going home. Try to get in my way." Was what they were able to make out of the noises she made between crying. She was pink in embarrassment, she felt like a loser and her two best friends were ruining all that she loved about their adventures. There was no sense of freedom or a lack of judgment feeling or any sort of joy that she normally looked forward to during these times. Her best friends were at each other's throats and ruining both the potential for romance and the potential for her happiness.

She made her way through them, passing between the twins, still crying and still holding her axe. She held her axe to her ribcage though, rather than in a way to fight. She held it more like a child would a teddy bear.

"Oh Paz…"

"Pacifica, wait! I know this is all of my fault! Please! Just wait a second!"

Forgetting that they were already so close to the reason they came and to the clock ticking to nine o'clock, the twins were running after her once more. In their desperation to get to her before anything bad happened, neither twin realized that, even though they were going the way they came, there was still an incline.

Pacifica noticed though. All of her jogging did little for her hiking skills and she began to self loathe over the fact that she couldn't climb faster. _Climb? I should be going down though; this was the way to the car…?_

"STOP!" She screamed and things started making very little sense. "Dipper! Mabel! Stop Walking!"

"Pacifica we're going to follow you until we make this right. Until I make this right!" Mabel replied trying to act as justly as she could. Guilt was eating her away, she had really hurt her best friend if she had reduced her to tears. She had never seen Pacifica cry until today.

"No! It's not that! Look! We're going uphill again! This was the way we came from the car! And the map says this should be as tall as a field! Something is wrong!" Pacifica explained her confusion the best she could and the twins had a moment of realization and then fear.

"…Dipper? What were we coming here for again? What's going on?" Mabel was becoming seriously concerned.

"There's supposed to be a treasured Gem at the top of the mountain. And the mountain is only supposed to appear when something triggered a trap. So I don't know what we did, but something is trying to keep us here." He was trying to explain calmly, but bad news never goes as smoothly as it should.

"What are some of the traps, maybe we can undo it, or prevent the next one?" Pacifica asked Dipper. She was now turned facing the twins. She wasn't crying anymore, but the evidence of when she had was all over her face.

"That's the thing, the traps are invisible ones and depend on the person, or people going in. They change with the different personalities and the different emotions." And a realization hit him. The first trap was set off when Pacifica started crying.

"So you have no idea? None? There's no clue as to what we could be walking into? Dipper you absolute MORON!" Pacifica was enraged by his carelessness. They could be trapped here and die! Plenty of people already had! And for what? A stupid gem?

Just then, plant life started to move around them, bushes, trees, flowers all getting farther and farther away. The trio almost seemed to be standing in a field but no one but Mabel noticed, Dipper and Pacifica were to focused on one another.

"How was I supposed to prepare? I had limited knowledge available to me! And you know that's why we go on these adventures, to figure them out!" He wasn't yelling, he wasn't mad, he just wanted her to see where he was coming from.

"But why? For what? What is some stupid gem supposed to do that's so great that we're risking our lives for it? Taking down a beast so it can't hurt people is one thing. Charging into no-man's-land for treasure is completely different!"

"This is dangerous! This could hurt people! That's why! The gem is the reason people are getting hurt and that's why we're taking it and throwing it in the sea! And we need to do it before noon so it can be dissolved by morning light!"

In those moments, Pacifica had gone from crying, to livid, to now a sort of calm. She understood Dippers intentions and made an effort to pull herself together for him and this stupid adventure. He was right, they needed to do all they could to help people from being harmed by things they would never understand. They were now standing in a field but again, only Mabel seemed to notice as Dipper and Pacifica were preoccupied with sorting out their conversation.

"Dipper. Dipper I'm so sorry. I led us into this death trap because I didn't want to face you and Mabel, I wasn't thinking. I- I led us to an uncertain doom."

"Paz, stop that. If Mabel or I had considered how you felt about our arguing in the car or even before then you wouldn't have had to march off. You really can't take the blame for this one."

"Yes I absolutely can! I couldn't deal with looking like a crying loser in front of you guys so I marched ahead and meant to purposefully leave you two!"

"Hey! Don't call yourself a loser! I know what that word means to you because Preston!" He was of course remembering her stories about her father's less than loving approaching to coaching her to greatness.

Pacifica slumped her shoulders and her axe lowered to her side as she began to show the first bit of tears again. Dipper however, rushed forward to grab her in an embrace. And so he held her while she cried.

Mabel, while thrilled with the development, focused on the mission at hand. The field they were in now was completely flat, and there were rocks all around, but a particularily pretty purple one stood out to Mabel. She was careful in walking over to it, making sure there was little noise in her steps and sure that there weren't any spikes or traps or anything harmful. It took her a moment in her slow pace, to get to the purple stone, but she had. She looked to Dipper and Paz and saw him whispering to her something while he continued to hug her. Mabel, deciding not to ask for permission or guidance from the very occupied Dipper, grabbed the stone and the trio were now standing in a field, but different than the last one in that the car was visible, maybe thirty feet away.

All three had felt the earth move beneath them and Pacifica and Dipper, despite holding or being held by one another, looked around to see the car and then to see Mabel holding a purple Gem. She was smiling and laughing and the two separated to join her as she walked to the car.

"Mabel! Where'd you find it!? That was amazing!"

"Well, while you two were doing your thing, I happened to notice something that even you didn't. The Whole forest was changing while you and Paz talked! Soon enough, when you were hugging her, we were in the field filled with rocks, and Bam! Here was this one! Just lying there! Then Woosh! I picked it up and we were able to leave!" Mabel was over joyed by the fact that she was the hero of this mission, not that it was all that unlikely, just that it was more often Dipper or Paz.

" I think the traps were emotional ones, and because Paz was the first one to enter, they synced with her." Dipper made this assessment and turned to see Pacifica nodding, but then adding to his statement.

"That makes sense, I was upset, so we went uphill and in harsh terrain. I was angry and things started moving away from me. And then, I guess I was, calm, and we were in the field." Dipper made sure to hear all that she had to say, this was exactly what he needed down in the journal.

"OH CRAP! How long were we in there for? We have to get this thing in water!" Dipper was suddenly realizing, that yes, even though they had the stone, the mission wasn't complete.

"Oh Crap its like ten minutes to noon! Quick where's the nearest lake? Do you think maybe we could spit on it? Spit is like water! Maybe it'll dissolve!" Mabel began to panic, not knowing if they would have to go through all of that again if they didn't get the stupid thing destroyed.

Dipper was going into a panic attack, freaking out about where they could go now that they had so little time. He was searching all over the map. Not a stream in a ten mile radius!

"You guys suck at packing and preparing." Was all Pacifica had to say before she grabbed a water bottle out of her bag.

"By gods shes got it!" Mabel exclaimed very loudly.

"Mabel quick! Put it on the ground so Paz can pour the water over it!" And they did just that.

The sky was over head, the sun almost on top of them, and as Pacifica poured the water over the stone, every worry seemed to go away.

The stupid rock dissolved and fizzled and melted away almost instantly. A gold ring had been trapped inside however, and it was freed of its gem prison. The three looked at it in awe.

"Paz should keep it, don't you think Dipper?"

"Yeah, I agree Mabel. She went through the most to get it." He said this and looked up to see Pacifica looking like she might cry again.

"Crap! What is it? Do you want us to take it? Whats wrong?" Dipper, who thought he had gotten all of the panic out of his system earlier in their search for water, realized that was wrong, because nothing scared him more than seeing Pacifica cry. And considering he had already seen it twice that day, he was terrified.

She quickly wiped her face.

"Sorry. Its just- Well it's just sad. The ring is obviously a wedding band, and if the traps were emotional, it's more than likely that they trapped themselves there. Leaving the loved one behind or maybe leaving no one behind."

Dipper and Mabel understood what she meant and quickly made the decision to pick it up. Mabel put it on a string, knotted the string, and put it around Pacifica's neck.

"Pacici, I know you like sentimental things, so this one is from me. When you see this ring, I want you to know that you'll never be as trapped as this person was, you'll always have Dipper and me to help. You'll never, NEVER, be this alone."

And with that explanation, Pacifica grabbed the ring, now around her neck, into the palm of her hand and used her other arm to pull Mabel into a hug.

"Dipper get in this or I will cut you" Was threatened by the twin, and was soon obeyed.

The three finished their group hug and were soon off in Dippers car, going home to the mystery shack, music on full blast and everyone singing at the top of their lungs.

When they got there Mabel was the first out of the car, and dipper and Pacifica stayed just a bit longer grabbing their things.

"Dipper, about what you said back there. You know that's not a thing a best friend says to another best friend."

"Well, I mean, yeah. No I know that. I meant it though! Really I did!"

Pacifica moved around the car to where he was standing, she was maybe a foot or two away and she set down her backpack and her axe.

"If you meant it, then act like it."

"Are you asking me to act like I love you? That's kind of hard to do because that's how I always act."

"Then maybe I'm daring you to prove it."

"What? How could I prove it? That's- I mean- it's just how I feel! I don't know!"

She groaned and stepped forward, giving him a light, swift peck on the lips.

"Whatever weirdo, I'm going home then."

She was turning to leave when Dipper became, well, inspired by her actions. He grabbed her hand, and she turned to him as he did. He put another hand on her waist, and pulled her into a kiss, that was very different than the peck she had given him. She reciprocated, but knowing that Mabel was probably watching from a window, like a creep. She pulled away.

"I'm going to your room, I suggest you follow."

"Right, Okay!"

And the rest of her day got brighter from there.


	7. Of Cars and Tears

Dipper woke up in pain that spread from his ankles up to his lower back and seemed to particularly hurt on his right arm and right side of his rib cage. His head hurt like never before. He took in a deep breath before he opened his eyes.

He was lying on the living room couch and had bandage wrapping him in way that seemed head to toe. On his sides, blood was already spotting through the white gauze. They he could hear two voices coming in through the front door and getting closer.

"Mabel, don't worry he's gone for now. We probably won't see him for another month or so, so calm down!" Dipper could hear Pacifica's confident voice as she came into the shack talking to his sister who he guessed wasn't far behind. Her comforting turned into a sort of scolding but that's just how she was sometimes… all of the time. But it was endearing because at least she was passionate in her comforting.

"I know Paz, it just- it just took a lot to get him out this time." He didn't like the sound of his sister's voice when she was sad. Everything seemed wrong with the world when her positive and ever jovial tone wavered.

"You weren't even the one that had to-" But she didn't finish her statement when she walked around the side of the couch to see Dipper covered in his bandages and his eyes open.

"Dipper! You're up!" She sounded very excited about this fact and almost nervous about it too. She was quickly digging into her purse and pulled out her miniature flashlight, which she then quickly showed in his face and was checking his eyes. Then she pulled at his jaw and made sure he could both swallow and that he still had all of his teeth. Her hands on his skin felt like a cold porcelain and he supposed it felt good because of how warm he was.

Mabel walked around the corner of the couch as Pacifica examined Dipper. She hadn't followed her friend's footsteps for a few moments so she could attempt to put a smile on her face for her brother to see.

"Hey Bro-Bro! You're looking better!" her eyebrows showed that she was still very concerned and her voice could have hidden it a bit better, but she wore a smile as bright as the sun. She was inwardly just very happy he was alive and well.

Pacifica saw the spotting on his bandages and began pulling out replacement wraps from her purse and pulling at the ones he had on his skin. She didn't want to interrupt their sibling time, so she didn't say anything.

It took a bit for him to clear his voice. His mouth tasted like gravel, which was weird.

"Hey Mabes… Yeah I'm doing okay, I feel like I got hit by a truck though."

Mabel's smile faltered and she put her hand over her mouth. She pulled herself over to the loveseat couch that sat parallel to the couch, and didn't seem sure what to say next. Pacifica pulled off the old wrap and began redressing his wounds. Her hands didn't have a fidget but paused after he said truck. Pacifica made a decision to become involved anyway.

"You really shouldn't feel that way considering it was just my little convertible that ran you down." Was all she said as she put a hand onto his back and pull him forward off of the couch just enough to get the bandage under and around. She didn't more her hand from where it was on his lower spine because she would just have to pull him up again after she finished one wrap and went onto the other.

She blushed at him now staring at her bewildered. His eyebrows seemed to meet his birthmark and his jaw opened his mouth just the slightest. His eyes went wide and he tried to draw in as much information from his friends face as possible. He could tell she meant it when she made eye contact but looked away just as quickly. What the hell?

"You hit me with your car!?"

"Twice. You got up the first time and laughed so I had to do it again just to make sure."

"You hit me with your car, TWICE?"

"Yep."

"Paz! What the hell did I do that could have possibly prompted that!?"

"You gave your body away in a deal when you were twelve. Bill repossessed you and Mabel and I had to deal with it."

Dipper was shocked and embarrassed by this news, he knew it was always a possibility but he couldn't even remember his body being taken. Last time he was 'kicked out' he could still sense where his body was, feel it moving even though he wasn't inside of it. Everything was blank; the last thing he could remember was having cereal for breakfast.

He was starting to shake and tears were being too well up in the corners of his eyes. _What have I done? What did he do with me?_ These were prominent thoughts in Dipper's mind when he was quickly pulled into a hug by the blonde girl sitting next to him.

Mabel leaned back into her spot in the couch, now feeling like Pacifica had before, not wanting to intervene. Her brother and best friend had an odd relationship, one that she always wanted to thrive but was always scared about if it did. She played match maker several times with the two, but when they got along well enough to come up with a revenge plan, she was never really sure if the revenge bothered her as much as feeling left out did. Coming up with and executing plans was her thing, and to think Dipper could move on and do the same thing better with Pacifica messed with her brain. She knew he would be happy with her if anything were to ever happen between them and that filled her with joy. She considered the fact that she was a total hypocrite though, always finding dates and making Dip third wheel.

Pacifica held Dipper as he continued to shake and tears streamed down in their occasional silence. She hummed and shushed him and leaned him into her, and he was hugging her back as much as he could without opening up the wound on his side. His arms were around her waist and his face was pressed into her neck with his head resting on her shoulder. He held her tightly but not with force, and she was careful in placing her arms further up from his arms to around his neck. It was a comfortable position and she was sure she would like it even more if it hadn't come from such unfortunate events.

She'd seen him have a panic attack before, but one like this was bizarre. Normally his attacks would lead him to babbling at the speed of sound and running on empty as he physically ran around trying to solve and manage and sort. In those events Pacifica normally just had to give him a single goal or puzzle to focus on and solve. She'd ask him a riddle; he would get distracted, solve the riddle and then be able to think clearly once more.

She didn't like crying though, this was a fiasco she wasn't prepared for, ready to handle or knowledgeable about. She wasn't allowed to cry, she never was. Crying was what losers did in her parents' eyes, and she was never allowed to be a loser. If they caught her crying, which they did only a few times once she learned how to weep in silence, things would go south very quickly for the heiress.

And so Pacifica let go of Dipper, and expected him to do the same. But he kept holding on and shaking and freaking out all the while. She gave a glance to Mabel who looked like she was crying as well and decided she would probably be useless in this calamity. Dipper was thrown into his thoughts, and they went 90 miles an hour speeding with questions and self-loathing.

'_I could have killed them. He could have killed me. He could have made me do anything. I'm a monster. I'm a freak. The demon is right behind me always. Why must I do this? Why does he want me to suffer? Why must I make those around me suffer? I should have died. I should have died. That way he could never take back my body. Then I'd be free and no one would suffer because of me. I cause Paz and Mabel so much pain. They must hate me. He could have made me kill them. I could be a monster…'_

"Dipper. What's three multiplied by fourteen?" He heard Pacifica ask this and snapped up to see her face. It showed concern around her eyes but she was trying to act like a professional. He could tell when she acted.

He stiffened and the shaking stopped. He had to clear his throat which was parallel to her shoulder at this point. He had dug himself into her neck when crying without thinking about it. She did think about it, and as endearing and sad it was, it was really not okay to feel another person's tears on her skin.

"I-it's forty two. Why?"

"No reason. Could you tell me forty two multiplied by fourteen?"

He paused, multiplying in his head.

"It's five hundred and eighty eight. What're you-"

"Dip. What is that plus 30?"

"Six hundred and eighteen." He removed himself from her and Mabel came closer, one of these was relieving to Pacifica. Pacifica had some sort of idea where she was going with this now, and while it wasn't particularly clever, it had a definite answer for him to come up with.

"When is you're birthday?"

"The eighteenth of June?"

"So can you say that your birthday is the equivalent of three times fourteen, times fourteen, plus thirty?"

"Well…no? Just because the digits are the same you would put it in respect to its day in the year. Right like January 1st is day one, then our birthday is the 169th day of the year… you would add and multiply and stuff to get to that number, not to 618."

"Thank you for clearing that up." Was all she said, both twins were super confused, but at least neither of them were crying anymore.

"…Your Welcome?"

"I guess I am. Now, I'm going to go to the kitchen and make us hot cocoa. Mabel, it's your turn to pick out the movie. Dipper you will sit still or so help me god, if you open your wound again, I will make them shut again with metal wires. Don't make me live up to that threat."

She instructed and threatened all of this and then quickly picked herself off of the old lumpy couch to do as she said. She was getting the hot chocolate in the 90 degree weather because of two reasons: One, if she was around them without a break for any longer, someone was going to get punched or something mean would be said, and then two, the twins didn't keep any other chocolate in the house. Sure Mabel had candies everywhere but she didn't really keep chocolate around. This was always problematic for Pacifica, but she didn't bring it up. Dipper still made her nervous from her run in with Bill Dipper that morning and she needed to breathe. Touching him and holding him was starting to freak her out, even though she was so very well aware that Bill was gone.

She was walking away when she saw Mabel go over to Dipper and start talking to him, half of the conversation seemed to be in their twin-speak though. She decided not to bother listening and carried on her journey to their panty and then to the mug cabinet.

The cocoa power was where it always was and the sugar was near it, although a bit closer to the front that normal. She grabbed the two and set them onto the counter near the microwave.

The mugs the twins used were the same in every way but color. Mabel's a very bright purple with some purple thrown in, and Dipper's a dark navy with browns. She had her own mug, one she had brought from home a year or so back, and it was a crisp white way back when. Now it looked more like a light blue. The paint that was on Dippers mug probably stained hers when they were put into the wash together. It didn't really bother her though, the clean white reminded her of home, to not see it so pristine made the blonde a bit more at ease.

Going to the fridge she grabbed the milk, and decided not to think on the fact that they had a zombie hand duct tapped to a plate on the third shelf. She also avoided looking at the jar filled with newt eyeballs.

She measured, poured, mixed and shoved the hot cocoa into the microwave to heat it up. She knew traditionally she was supposed to put the mixture on the stove in a pot, but that meant she would later have to clean the pot. Otherwise it would sit in the sink until Friday when the older twins did cleaning. And considering it was Saturday, the microwaved cocoa would have to do.

She grabbed the twins' mugs first and marched out to the living room. Dipper was lying like he had been before, but his eyes were open and he no longer seemed at peace or at war. Mabel was still picking at the movie collection.

"You want me to pick Mabel?" was all the blonde spoke as she brought the mugs to each twin, Mabel took it but exclaimed "Non-sense!", Dipper took his and gave a small grateful smile. Pacifica felt her organs twist at the little pull in his lips so she left, back into the kitchen, and retrieved her own mug of the warm drink.

Dipper held out his mug, which she took and held as he pulled himself up to a sitting position on the couch. She handed it back to him after glaring and glancing over at his side. It wasn't bleeding but if it had been, her fury was clear.

"Now I'm not taking up the whole couch, Geez Paz! I know you want your favorite seat, stop glaring!" he was smiling and playing with her. She didn't really want to smile and play just yet. She really didn't.

"It might be my favorite seat but I also really like that side not bleeding." Her glare didn't falter until Mabel decided her voice should be heard in all of this.

"Are you saying you really like my bro's sides Paz?"

"W-what? Mabel stop that, don't use my words against me!"

"I dunno Paz, Mabel makes a good point. Maybe you just want to see me with my shirt off again!" He smiled trying to carry the joke, but he didn't look at her like Mabel had. He looked at her with a very different emotion and she wasn't really sure which one it was.

"Yeah maybe you stayed for the film to ogle my little baby brother! Just don't take advantage of his young ways!"

The twin carried on, getting more and more elaborate with each turn they took. They were having bonding recovery time, she knew that. But the pink in her cheeks and the hurt that rushed through her ribcage made her feel spiteful.

She closed her eyes and lifted her head up as if she were to look at the ceiling. The twins saw this motion and they cut down their chatter. This was an action Pacifica never really did, and so they weren't really sure between the two of them what would happen next. Dipper decided to act before either girl did.

"Sorry Paz, that got a little intense… I know you- well, that you-um- Any way I'm sorry about that."

Mabel was a bit confused at her brother's declaration and wondered if he was going to say that 'she didn't like him' or 'wouldn't ever look at him that way'. She knew that's what he thought based on a just prior conversation, just when Pacifica left for the kitchen. She had asked him if match maker was still a game she could play, and he told her that it would never happen because Paz would never let it happen. He didn't say anything about not liking her though.

Pacifica let out a huge sigh and returned her head to looking over and down to Dipper.

"Hope you feel better. Sorry again for running you down." She spoke this more monotone then they had heard from her in years. She grabbed her purse and began digging for her keys, taking several long strides to the door.

"Oh! Paz! No, wait! I'm Sorry! This is on me! Please don't go! I'm sorry I started teasing you! You know I didn't mean it! Right?!" Mabel chased after her screaming all off this as she went along but Pacifica was already out of the door and halfway to her car before she replied.

"Don't worry about it Mabes. Just call me if he starts bleeding again. I might just stitch him closed."

Mabel ran to her side and though it was dark out in the night without any of the shack's many lights, she could tell that Pacifica was beyond her normal point of upset.

"Pacifica, stop! Just Stop! Please explain why you're leaving! We've teased you before and it was okay, I thought this would be the same?"

"Yeah the only difference is I had to sew up the boy I like after having to run him over! And you know what? It's really sad when the only way he's ever wanted to kiss me was when he was possessed by a demon! I'm just done Mabel! I can't stay the night here and pretend I'm okay!" Pacifica was semi screaming this at the girl despite the fact that it was 1 in the morning and Dipper was sitting inside probably able to hear. She could do damage control later but right now she was too upset to think about it.

"…Did Bipper try to kiss you Pacifica?" Was all Mabel was able to say, and even then her voice wavered and cracked. Pacifica had just admitted out loud that she liked Dip. Knowing the answer to this became crucial to Mabel, she needed to know how much damage was done to know how much she would have to help.

"It's a funny fucking story Mabel. I came to the shack this morning and was greeted by him with the normal hello, before he pulled my wrist and the rest of me into the hall closet. Yes he kissed me Mabel! You know what? He made out with me! Then he groped me and left me with a Hickey! At first I thought it was just Dipper being bold but when he- when he put his hands on me- he – Mabel, it was Bill! It was all Bill! Dipper would never do that to me and now I've got a bit mark to look at and loathe for a week. I hate it! I hate everything about it! But I'm sure as hell not going to get to cry about it!"

"Oh Paz-"

"Don't pity me Mabel. It sucks, I really fucking get that. And it sucks even more that I had to run him over and hear his rib pop! And see his blood on the white of my car! I can still see it, even in the dark! And then you guys go on a tangent about how I want him? How I want his body? So sue me Mabel! that might've been true yesterday and might even be true right now. But I could barely handle hugging him without- without- whatever. So Mabel, go back inside, watch a movie with him and drink my hot cocoa. And if I come over here tomorrow, I sure as hell don't want to have you guys mopey and sad again."

Pacifica took the time then to angrily stomp the last few feet to her car, climb in and drive it out of the shacks parking lot. She only made it a mile before she had to stop on the side of the road to let out her screams. She decided just this once she would allow herself to cry despite having told Mabel off about it only moments ago. At first she was just furious but it became a matter of all her emotions coming and rushing forward at once.

Back at the shack Mabel still hadn't gone inside. She stood there stunned and trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do before going and sitting on the steps of the porch wondering the same thing. This was more than she ever thought Bill would go. How blind Mabel had been, Bill even mentioned the fact that "That silly llama shouldn't want to help too soon any way Star!" and "Llama won't get close enough to touch him for days now!"

Mabel began sobbing as she found herself unable to help Pacifica or even think of something that could ease her stress. Her best friend had just been molested by a demon and she hadn't even noticed. How on god's green earth could she help her recover from that?

Dipper was inside still seated on the couch but was now staring at his hands. He had touched her, had groped her, and who knows what else the demon made him do. He got up quickly and ran to the bathroom, dry heaving his empty stomach and feeling unclean. He had molested her! It was unspeakable, it was horrendous, and he really was a monster. Dipper had never felt more disgusted with himself.

Mabel heard her brother thrash around in the living room and ran into the house to hear him puking in the restroom. He had heard them after all. Mabel turned around and slumped down the restroom door until curling into a little ball by its base.

Dipper decided that he needed to set things right with her. He brushed his teeth, the vomit taste reminding him of Bill, and opened to door to see his sister lying on the floor.

"Mabel I'm taking the car." She looked up at him and was shocked to see him already hobbling his way to the key rack to get the pair of keys that they shared.

"Dipper you really shouldn't be driving-"

"Mabel! I have to make something right with her! I- I- I did horrible things Mabel! Horrendous things! I can't wait until tomorrow to try to make things better! I can't afford to do that to her!"

He had his point, and Mabel knew she couldn't argue.

"…Just drive safe okay."

And he was out the door, hobbling to his car and climbing in. He didn't click his seatbelt because it would pull on his side and he pulled out of the shack going at speed. Reckless driving could matter to him less at the moment.

He went in the direction of the manor and because of how fact he was driving he almost missed seeing her car on the side of the road. He was bewildered but turned the car around in the empty street and parked behind her. She was curled into her own ball in the front seat sobbing and hadn't noticed him or the noise his car made.

He was quick to get out but slow to walk to her car and decide what it was he needed to say to her. When he tapped on her window she jumped in her seat. As soon as she saw him and saw the way he was looking at her, she clicked the car unlocked. His concerned face was like a kicked puppy and behind his eyes was a lot of pain.

He went around the side and got into the passenger seat. He closed the door behind him and when he did, she clicked the button to lock them in again. The car was warmer than it was outside. A few drops of rain began to fall.

"Paz, I know I'll never deserve your forgiveness and I know I'll never forgive myself-"

"Shut up Dip stick. It wasn't you. I don't blame you. I just- I don't know Dipper. I'm just not okay." She looked up from her knees to make eye contact as she said this. She meant it all and he needed to know it.

"Pacifica-"

"There's nothing to forgive Dipper."

"Pacifica I think I love you" Dipper blurted this out, and he was thankful for the lack of street lamps illuminating his very red face. He hadn't meant to tell her but out it went.

"Dipper I said there was noth- what?" Pacifica thought he was just starting another argument and wasn't really one hundred percent sure that he said what she thought he said.

"I think I love you Paz, and I'm sorry that those things were done to you-" but he had said what she thought and she began to smile.

"I just wanted it to be done by you Dip. Not by Bill."

"You… what?" he could see the small tug at her lips, pulling a small smile. He was more confused than ever.

"I think I love you too Pines. And I thought this morning was you finally returning those feelings, of course until it went sour and Bill became malicious."

"You do!? I um- I mean we could-no wait- but- what? You really feel that way? I mean you mentioned it when you and Mabel were fighting but you said like then-maybe I heard-"

"Dipper stop it. You didn't hear wrong. I really think I love you, you dork."

When he just sat there and stared at her and then nothing in particular, with a smile on his face and didn't say anything more, she decided that she could make a move. She put her legs down from the seat and unbuckled her seat belt.

"Dipper, can I hug you?"

"Yes! I mean, Yes, uh, you can! If you'd like, I-" And he would have kept rambling but her arms were around him once more but with a lot more zeal then when they were sitting on the couch. He was quick to pull into the hug and embrace her gently, not wanting to be rough, or even possibly forceful with her. He wasn't going to act like that monster before him.

She pulled herself over the center console of the front seat and into the seat where Dipper sat. She was on his lap and still holding and being held by him. He was very okay with this change. She had been careful to work around his wounds and had hit none of them.

Her head curled into his neck, and he could feel her breathe on his tshirt and on his collarbones. He was so focused on this he didn't notice the rain starting to pour outside.

Then he thought he heard her voice.

"…Paz?"

"I asked if I could kiss you Dipper."

She pulled her face in front of his and made eye contact, waiting for his response.

He nodded with enthusiasm but said nothing. She smiled at this, and leaned down to place her lips on his. She was gentle, and he was as well, and then she leaned in more, and soon he did as well, and then things were a bit less gentle. Her arms were still around his neck and his were on her waist but had slightly moved up to hold her spine and pull her to him.

And soon enough their tongues got introduced, though technically they had met before, and began circling and flicking and playing on each other. Neither was proud about the noises they made but both enjoyed hearing the other and trying to get the noise to repeat. Breathing became shallow as the pace at which they kissed sped up and as her fingers wove through his hair.

He raised a hand to cup her cheek but as soon as he did, he felt her pull away, both from his hand and from his mouth.

"Oh shoot, I just thought I could- I thought that w-would be okay-" Dipper began freaking out and didn't catch the forming plan in her eye. He figured he had screwed something up. And then she moved her head past his lips and onto his neck.

His first thought was that they were now done kissing (although he really wasn't) and that back to hugging it went.

And then she began pressing kisses up and down his neck, on his jaw, near his ear… and then the kisses got sloppier. He really truly thought it was bliss, these warm, wet kisses, and then she bit down. And he decided that was way better, and she knew it was because soon after she had he let out a moan. And so she went on a pattern of biting him and then sucking on the skin and kissing it over again until another spot seemed to make more noise.

Soon enough she rejoined his lips though, and he kissed her with more passion than before, wondering if he was to return the favor. She moaned into his kiss, and the two were passionately locked together, unaware of the time passing. And time passed quickly.

Dipper's phone rang, he hadn't remembered even grabbing it, or having put it in his back pocket, but off it started going with its generic jingle. He was ignoring it but he felt Pacifica's sigh on his lips as she pulled away and got off of him so he could grab the call.

He gave her a disappointed glance but she seemed indifferent about it rather than upset or inconvenienced. Pulling out his phone he saw the ID as 'Fun Twin' and accepted Mabel's call.

"…Yeah?" was all he gave as greeting.

"Dipper! Thank god! Pacifica hasn't been answering my calls! It's been an hour and a half since you both left? Have you found her? Is she still mad? What if you didn't find her? You didn't wreck or anything did you? OH MY GOD IM ON MY WAY DIP-"

"No! Calm down Mabes! I found Paz and parked next to her car… we've been sorting it out…"

"Sorting it out like you talking, her talking or you both screaming? Because that's how you guys normally work... Is she mad at us? Is she comfortable talking to you, I mean since B-"

"Don't say that name, and yeah its fine we're both just… we're working it out."

"What does that EVEN MEAN DIP?"

"It means things are going to be okay! Gotta Go! Bye!" He rushed his last few words and hung up the call. He wasn't sure that telling his sister that they were 'working it out' by making out for almost two hours, would be a good idea. He also wasn't sure if Paz would want her to know so soon.

Putting his phone back he looked over to see Pacifica checking her phone.

"She called me 14 times. All of her voice mails are her sobbing apologizes and asking if I was dead in a ditch… I think she's drunk Dipper…"

"Not_ unlikely_… Grunkle Stan is a big fan of the whiskey tears method. You use your tears to water down your whiskey, but strong men don't cry as he puts it, so it's mostly him pouring shot after shot. I wouldn't doubt he saw her so miserably upset and decided she needed a drinking buddy."

"Your family has really weird coping mechanisms."

"Yours does too."

"That's a very justified point."

She sat and looked at him, and he at her, and the animalistic hunger they both felt earlier seemed to have passed. Instead she crawled back over to his lap and he held her. She laid her head on his chest, and his head rested upon hers. He had always known she was short, but she had never seemed tiny until this point, she looked more and more like a doll curled up. It scared him to think that his body possessed was what chipped her porcelain.

He closed his eyes but her remained open and watching the rain fall down the window. It was a warm summer rain and as much as she normally loved these nights, she concluded they were much better when being held. Dipper's heart beat was loud in her ear, and she could tell his mood through the rhythmic thumps of the heart valves opening and closing.

"Dipper, I was so scared today. I don't think I've ever been more terrified."

He didn't say anything; he just squeezed her a bit closer in his arms. This confession was terrifying, to him at least. Pacifica was an unwavering force of nature. If someone could be a rock for another person, she was a tectonic plate that moved and did as it pleased.

"Dip… we should do this again tomorrow, but for now I need to get home. Its three in the morning, you need to rest and I need to take a long bath."

"That sounds good-"

"and when I say you need to rest, I mean you need to sleep. I swear to god if I come over tomorrow and you stayed up reading or thinking, you will be six feet under the ground."

"You're going to kill me if I don't sleep?"

"It's the only way I can think of to keep you at rest."

"Hardy-Har Paz, alright then. I'll get going…" He moved to grab the door handle, despite her still resting on him, but she grabbed his face into her hands and gave him a long smooch.

He was a bit dazed by this one, and Pacifica crawled over and back into her driver's seat. He sat there, but pulled his hand away from the door. She gave him a look.

He reached across, pulled her chin just the slightest with his fingers, and kissed her. Again, it was just a smooch but now she was lost.

"Really are we five? Did you want to have the last say or something?"

"No- Just- Well, you've kissed me every time and well- well- I wanted to be the one to kiss you I guess."

"That makes sense. But I always kiss first Dip, because I always have more control over the situation. It's one of the many perks of me being such a lovable alpha bitch."

He opened his mouth to argue but she quickly added:

"Fight me on this, and I will ensure that there will be no more kisses."

And so he closed his mouth, deciding she could win this fight until he could not face such a penalty. She gave him a wink and he smiled. Opening the door, he ran out in the ran to his car and climbed quickly inside. He watched her drive the opposite way he would be driving and wondered how her car was in such good condition after having run him down. Twice.

Gravity Falls was a weird town.

He started the engine and drove home, and though he promised her to sleep, he knew she would be on his mind all night.


	8. Of Absurdities and Plans

"Sooo…" Pacifica left the word hanging for the longest possible time so as to see the boy in front of her turn a particular shade of red on his ears. Now that that was achieved, she carried on with her real question.

"When are we doing dinner then?" She had him acting like a puppet on a string. He flustered a bit, made a couple of incoherent noises and had to close his eyes before he could answer her.

"I um- I was just- I was messing around- um Paz- I- Let's never talk about this ever. I didn't say it. It didn't happen." He was squirming in his stance.

"You might have been just joking about, but I'm certainly not! And if you had the audacity to say that to me, you at least owe me dinner." He seemed to go blank just then, almost in the same way he does when faced with an unknown beast, and his squirming stopped. Pacifica figured he was trying to get a loop hole or make a new connection to the situation, she decided it was probably equally as likely that he was trying to come up with an excuse or a lie.

"Stop digging Dipper. You're not going to come up with an excuse. And I talked to Mabel already today, I know she's out on a date and you have to feed yourself dinner."

"But Grunkle Stan-"

"He's out of town with your grandpa, and won't return until tomorrow Dip. You invite me over to your house often enough that I know what everyone is up to. Come on, try some other excuse."

"I- uh- I already have a date tonight." And he looked her dead in the eye as he said it. His pupils didn't waiver and despite the beginning nervousness he gave to the statement he said the rest of it with conviction. Pacifica was baffled. And though she wanted to assume it was a lie, he looked ready to fight her if she insinuated that it was.

"What!? With who?"

"You know who it is, and I'm not going to pretend you don't just so you can be mean about it."

"Dipper, what the hell? I have no idea who you're talking about! I didn't even know you talked to people outside of your family and me for long enough in order for you to get a date!"

"I'm out of the house all the time! I'm rarely ever in the shack!"

"Uh Yeah! Cause you're always in the woods with the journal you're writing! Not cause you're- well- out with other humans!"

"Maybe I am! Maybe I'm never in the woods and I just lie about all the stuff I write down- I don't lie actually but, but I'm out with people sometimes!"

And in an instant, Pacifica pulled out her phone and began her search through her contacts. At first she thought she could look for a name to appear and for her to remember someone saying they had a date for tonight, but no names or memories appeared. Then she resolved to her plan B, calling Mabel.

"Paz… what're you doing? Who are you calling? I swear if you're calling her!" He made the argument sound but she didn't respond. She didn't open her mouth at all until his sister picked up.

"Hey Pacici! What's going on!?" She said this in a loud tone but then added in a hushed one: "You're saving me here girl, he was going on about some fish type, and I couldn't care less. What do you need though?" Dipper could hear his sister's voice loud from Pacifica's phone speaker, and his eyes went wide with betrayal. His sister didn't need to be brought into this, she was playing dirty. He couldn't hear her after her first loud proclamation though he knew she carried on. Pacifica laughed a bit, so it must've been funny or at her date's expense.

"Ew fish? Didn't you already date a merman? But whatever, please, I implore you, tell me who Dipper has a date with tonight." Pacifica humored Mabel's odd conversation but she moved on quickly to her reason for calling. She made eye contact with him as she finished out her statement. He didn't look scared like he would if he was bluffing, but rather, looked kind of angry.

"Mermando was a dream boat first of all, and second, this guy has legs and he's still that crazy about fish... Dipper has a date?" She asked it with earnest and Pacifica was sure Dipper could hear his sister's response. She raised her eyebrow at him and he shook his head at her slowly, looking less angry but still putting up a front. Pacifica wasn't sure if this was her trump card after all, he still looked confident in himself and his excuse.

"Ha, is the guy at least cute on the PCGM scale? And apparently, that's his reason for not taking me to dinner tonight. He says I know them though, and it's not feeling like a lie…" the PCGM scale was of course the 'Pacifica-Candy-Grenda-Mabel' scale of boys that ran from a 1 to 100 grading boys on various levels and various playing grounds. They made this scale when they had all turned 15 at one a sleepover at the shack or another. Pacifica meant what she said though, and Dipper looked smug at hearing her say she almost believed him.

"Ohhh are you jealous!? No, never mind I don't want to know. Is he pulling the 'I have a date with science!' spiel? Cause he probably is." And all the confidence and smug attitude Dipper had silently presenting to her faded.

"I think I owe you one. Gotta go, Thanks Mabel!" And the phone was turned off and returned to its spot in her dress pocket.

"Playing on an idiom are we Pines?" she smirked and her eyebrows shifted, one up, one down.

"What!? Of course not! Don't be- Don't be ridiculous! In any case- I have to get back to the shack now! To, uh, to get ready!" The boy was already about to perspire and turn red, but he turned quickly from her and did his best to ignore her imploring facial features. Her smile could feel as bright as a spring day or as dark as a new moon, both seemed to have a big effect on him, so he tried to not think much on it. 'Tried' was a key word here.

She had it figured out at that point. But rather than be a jerk about it, Pacifica decided to play along with the idiot's game of choice. It was only fair that if he got to lie, that she got to mess with him. A plan had already started formation in her mind when she spoke again.

"Well okay then. Let's get back to the shack, I'll help you pick out your outfit, you're really colorblind and I'd hate for the poor girl to be seen with you dressed like that."

Dipper was baffled by her sudden decision to help him with his 'date' but tried to hide his surprise, he grumbled a bit and soon turned and started walking back to his home. She cheerily walked behind him, skipping in her steps even though she was in her platform sandals. If anyone was smug now, it was very clearly the heiress.

Dipper said something about his attire not being horrible and she retorted that he wore the same thing every day, and needed to change it up for a date. He complained about this of course but soon brought up the fact that she always looked ready for a date, what with her dresses and more often than not, heels. She laughed and said it was because she was always ready for a date, and nothing was wrong with her sundresses. And besides, heels made her feel powerful.

Then they walked in silence until reaching the door of the shack. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, greeting the pig and making his way instantly to his room. Pacifica closed the door behind them but was sour at his sudden turn in mood.

"So where are you taking her anyway?"

"Just to the Diner, feel free to stalk if you want."

"Stalking is Mabel's thing you know that, but I think you should take her somewhere nicer for a first date…"

"Yeah like where?"

"Hmm… I'm going to call and make you a reservation at the sushi place outside of town. You know where it is right?"

"What!? Paz don't-" but she was already on the phone.

"Hi, yes this is Pacifica Northwest and I'd like to make a reservation for tonight. Make it an 8 o'clock for two. Yes and if you would put it on my tab, a Dipper Pines will be the one taking the table with his date."

She said a last goodbye and hung up. He looked floored though.

"I think you'll need to tell her to dress up a bit and I'm going to suggest the white button down with the green tie for you." She quickly went to managing the boy, things going just as she expected them too. She knew he loved the restaurant, she had taken him many times when they needed a celebration, and now she got to choose what he wore.

"…You're going to pay for my date?" He said it not in disbelief; she was always throwing money to piss off her dad, but rather, said it in a judgmental tone. Like he was trying to figure her out… She would have none of it.

"What? _You_ have a problem with this? You already told me that you liked cleavage in this dress, just because you refused to have dinner with me doesn't mean I'm not going to repay your compliment!"

"I told you though! Mabel brought it up and she told me if I didn't- I thought I asked to never talk about it ever again, what was wrong with that plan?" He was bright red again. It serves him right, she could have punched him earlier when he sputtered out the 'compliment' but making him uncomfortable right now was making up all the difference that her fists didn't.

"Dipper, Dipper, it's not in the past! Let me, a friend with excellent cleavage help out a friend have a successful date with someone else! It just makes sense!"

Dipper was internally freaking out though. He had lied about the date, playing on the idiom like Mabel had suggested, and now he was going to show up to a fancy restaurant and eat alone. He could play it off like he got ditched but she probably assumed he was picking up his date.

And then she even brought up what he had said earlier by mistake, making him feel all the more awkward and even guilty for it. He honestly hadn't meant to say it, but Mabel brought it up and told him he was a scaredy-cat if he didn't at least compliment her new white dress. It was true, she had a really lovely chest but, he hadn't meant to come out and say that to her.

Pacifica could feel him floundering and was enjoying every moment of it. The boy was always way too comfortable in his own skin, always a bit too confident in his lies as well. Her next plan of attack was a go in 3…2…1…

"Did you want me to get a limo to pick you and your date up, or just her, or were you going to pick her up in your deathtrap of a car? I can't believe for a second that you would let her meet you somewhere."

"I'm going to pick her up, don't worry your blonde head over it." He said this confidently and tried to get a jab in as he grabbed the clothes she suggested. Taking it as her queue, she went and laid down on his bed facing the wall. She wasn't going to leave him just yet, but she didn't think sitting on his bed ogling him as he changed shirts would go that well for her conviction to make him squirm.

"Really? Not leaving even for me to change?" He had changed shirts in front of Mabel tons of times, hell he had even gone shirtless to the pool with the girl now on his bed, but for whatever reason, it now seemed… off.

"Oh no! I still have questions Dip! Tell me, are you going to share her name or do I have to find out through a face book post tomorrow?"

"I'm not telling you, you'd probably take it to the press and try to get it on every paper by tomorrow morning."

"If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have to try, it would be done. At least give me some clues!" She was playing it up but she wanted to know if he would try to describe someone he knew, and therefore, someone she knew. She could hear him taking off his shirt and then saw it flung into the corner of the wall she currently faced. She could feel herself turn the slightest bit pink.

"Uh, well she smiles a lot." Dipper thought this was a good start, totally not descriptive. He wasn't sure how he was going to give 'Science' female attributes, though he bounced a couple of ideas around. He considered that she might be playing with him though, and decided on the best way to get her rilled up. He would make a competitor, and she would hate losing.

"So does your sister, now next clue! And please be a bit more descriptive before you bore my brains out." She groaned at his lack of adjectives, he needed to get a bit more creative with this crap if he was suddenly the liar extraordinaire.

"She has uh- she has blonde hair, natural in color too." He grimaced thinking about the information he had just shared. Was he going to end up describing her?

Pacifica was a bit surprised about this choice, there were only a few girls in town that had blonde hair and that meant she could narrow it down a lot easier than if he had gone with brown hair, that is, if he was basing it off of someone they knew. She was also surprised because she thought he had a thing for red heads, and always hated on her 'bottle blonde' which was natural excuse him.

"What color eyes does she have?"

"They're really blue eyes. Like icicles in the winter."

"Does she play any sports?" and he knew she would fall into the trap, she was practically setting herself up for it.

"I think she plays a few." Pacifica could feel herself wind up in her shoulders. She thought for sure he would have chosen some little nerd girl who sat quietly at the library all day and was introverted to mute extents. Sure, she knew the boy liked more adventurous girls but if he was going to actually get a date, it would be that kind of person, right?

"Which ones?" The tense competitive feeling was in the back of her neck now.

"Maybe tennis and I think baseball? I don't know, I think she danced at one point." His undershirt was on and he could have told her she could turn around but, he didn't think lying to her face was as easy as when he couldn't see her face changing expression with each line he spoke.

"Did she win any competitions?" Her eyes narrowed and she scrutinized the wood holding the walls together, trying to figure out why he would do this and kind of forgetting that the girl didn't actually exist.

"I think she won everything she entered; for the most part at least." The white button up was around him and he began doing all of the buttons, starting from the bottom.

"She can't be too good if I've never heard of her, I'm in all local, state and national competitions… or wait, you said I knew her, I don't recall losing to anyone though…" She heard him fumbling with his shirt and assumed he was doing the buttons. She got off of the bed and went to help him with the few on his chest that he didn't seem to get to lay flat.

He didn't know if her scowl was from hating his 'date' or from having to help him with his buttons. He was a bit embarrassed that even at eighteen years old his fingers hated him and made his shirts crooked or lumpy. He hands were warm and lingered just the slightest on his torso.

"It's more for fun than for winning for her I think." He could see her simmering on this but didn't catch the sudden sadness in her eyes.

"I'm glad she has that option. How does she dress though? I'm done thinking about sports." She was starting to feel hurt that he was choosing traits she hated about herself. She thought he knew that competition got her wound and upset.

"More formal than Mabel, but I think less formal than you. A good in-between I think." He kept with his theme of talking about Pacifica but not Pacifica all at once, though when she turned away from him, he became less sure that it was a great idea.

"Well I'm glad she doesn't dress like a doll, or at least has the option not too… where is your tie, I'll knot it for you." She was getting too upset about someone who didn't exist. She knew that this mystery date didn't exist. But for god sakes why did he have to… to taunt her? It felt like taunting at least, as he described his girl as someone she could never be. She wasn't sure if she would tie the tie or would strangle him with the fabric to get answers.

"Yep, she's a free spirit…. And it's over here, let me grab it."

"How do you like her parents?" the fabric tie was handed to her and she threw it around him. Her voice no longer held the smugness that it did before and being so close to Dipper at the moment wasn't helping her. So she liked the boy, but this sucked, and it made her question if her calculated plan was worth it.

"Her dad kind of gets me mad but I think as a whole I like them and they like me." She pulled the ends even and he watched as she pulled the two ends into a perfect knot through a series of fast movements and a flick of her wrist.

"What about financially, not to be rude, but is she living comfortably?" she wouldn't make eye contact with him.

"Yep, her dad has a job at a bank so they're doing fine." she kept straightening the already straight tie. He didn't say anything about it though, wondering if he just couldn't tell if it was off.

"It's amazing that she plays tennis and her father is a banker, and yet I can't place her in my mind." Paz tried to sound bewildered or sound like she was actually interested, but the thought of slapping him and walking away seemed to be seeping through her fingertips.

"I'm sure you've met her but- ouch hey! That's a bit tight Paz!" she could have strangled him and she wouldn't have noticed. Her hands had pulled tight, and for the first time since she started the tie, she made eye contact with him.

And then he knew he had fucked up.

The look of water was in her eye, like she could cry but refused to. Her mouth was in a lowered and unconscious pout, a face that he knew she didn't like to make because she told him years ago. Her hands started to shake just the slightest as they still held his tie. But the way her eyes bore into his own made the world feel really horrible, as if crumbled and torn, as she searched his pupils for answers.

In an instant he knew he had to come clean and stop with his lies, that were obviously digging him further and further into a grave.

"Paz, I-"

"Save it Dip. I need to get home; I just remembered that I'm in trouble for spending too much this month. I guess in that same reason I should cancel your dinner, but I think you should go and enjoy it with your girl." She was already separated from him and making sure she had her phone in her pocket. She was beyond ready to go, and the words she said to him were practically spat out. She began walking to his door. The floor boards creaked with each step.

"Paz look- I'm sorry, I've uh-" He wasn't sure where to start but she sure was. She talked as she began her march through the small house to the front door.

"…You've been lying and making up a girl you know I'll never be able to compete with, or ever become? Yeah I figured it out; I had just hoped you would've been a bit kinder." The words came out like fire but she only wanted to cry.

"Paz I didn't mean to-"

"To what? Make me feel like shit because I'll never get to be a free spirit? Because I'll never get to walk around in anything less than a perfect outfit? Because I'll never get to play a game for fun or get to love my father? Don't fucking worry about it Dipper." She had her hand on the front door's knob and turned to deliver her last line to his face. He looked guilty and hurt and she knew exactly why, but she wasn't up for forgiveness right now.

"Pacifica Stop! Stop walking away! Let me talk!" he tried to grab her other hand but she pulled it away quickly.

"I'm done listening to you talk. I'm leaving Dip, you cannot stop me." And she pulled the handle to open the door, but his hand reached past her and applied the force to shut it. She turned to yell at him but he was so close to him that her anger stumbled and didn't recover in time when he started taking.

"Pacifica, I would love nothing more than to have you be the girl I go to dinner with, I just, I didn't want to earlier because I was embarrassed and was trying to get away like you're doing right now."

She took a step backwards and felt her shoulders hit the wood of the shacks door, his hand still on it and now only centimeters from her. She didn't feel boxed in, and he wasn't trying to box her in, he didn't think about anything other than trying to get her to keep talking to him and to get her to forgive him.

She didn't reply for a little while, just kept looking up at the boy who she knew she had a thing for and was so upset by. He was sincere, and he seemed to step forward just the smallest bit to make up the space that she tried to put between them. The boy grew too much for his own good, she decided.

The hurt she felt wasn't gone but she thought of a way to make herself feel a bit better. She pulled on his tie, not like before when she strangled him, but in a way that brought his face straight down and infront of hers.

"There is no way in hell I'm going to dinner with you Dipper."

She said this but before his face went to complete disappointment and hurt, she, still grasping his tie, pulled his face towards hers as she maneuvered her head slightly to the side. In the force of the pull, their lips were quickly connected, and her free hand went to the base of his neck.

He gave a very muffled 'squeal' as Mabel would put it, as she pulled him into the kiss, but very quickly tried to kiss back with the equivalent zeal. In his surprise he had removed his one hand from the door and so his arms seemed to hang in the air around her.

As he adjusted to the situation, and to the thought that he was kissing Pacifica Northwest, he tried to pull his arms around her waist.

She quickly pulled away at the feel of his arms around her though.

"Yeah I don't think so Pines. You don't get me to almost cry and then get a make out session. Goodbye." And faster than he could respond, she pulled the door open and was making her way to the car she left waiting in the lot.

He didn't know if he should chase her out to the car or to let her go or what he needed to say in order to get another kiss. Because the first one was blowing his mind even still, and he knew he would go crazy if she didn't at least talk to him about it.

So he ran out and got to her side as she opened the door to her small white car. He stood before the door, and though breathing in a bit more because of the sprint he had just done, he spoke.

"Can we talk about that please?"

"No, in fact, let's pretend it didn't happen. And never talk about it ever. Because you've never had growing feelings or even attraction for me, and in that reality I sure as hell didn't have any for you."

"Because of earlier…? Pacifica, I need to set one last thing straight before you leave."

She sighed and climbed into her car's front seat, she didn't close the door though, and looked up to him, waiting for him to finish talking.

"Pacifica, you are gorgeous and so out of my league it's not funny. I've wanted to date you for years, since we were fifteen! But I thought for sure you would never feel that way. And I'm sorry I still act like an awkward twelve year old, I just get so nervous trying to keep up with you. I never meant to make you upset or- or whatever you're feeling right now! This is not optimal!"

She didn't respond to him and he would have continued going had she not put a calculating look onto her face, and her shoulders not relaxed.

"…What's optimal then Dip? Making out with me on your couch while a movie plays in the background?"

At this point that sounded like heaven but he knew he would sound like an idiot if he tried to speak out a simple 'yes' so he just nodded very vigorously. She sighed. He stiffened. And then she put her keys back into her purse and climbed out of the car.

She didn't look at him directly but could sense him beaming at her, she slammed her car door. She thought she heard him flinch, but then she walked back to the shack, and walked through the front door that had been left open. He trailed after her not speaking.

She stopped walking once she was in front of the three seated couch. He stopped a few feet before it but she motioned him over with her hand, and he hesitantly went to her side.

"Dipper, sit down."

And so he did, holding his arms tight to his side and awkwardly, she scoffed at him but sat down on his lap and placed her arms around his neck. He didn't know for sure where she was going with this, but he had a good idea, and he really liked that idea.

"You want optimal then? You'll be late for your dinner reservation." Pacifica asked this with earnest.

"I don't feel like eating sushi anytime soon." Dipper said this with conviction.

And then her mouth was on his once more, and his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer. Her fingers played through his hair, and he moved one of his own hands to the back of her neck.

She used one hand to pull at his ear the slightest bit and he let out a small moan. She took the opportunity to deepen the kiss just then, and the boy didn't seem to expect it but very quickly adjusted and enjoyed it.

And so on they kissed, at one point she pulled away and ate at his neck, leaving a trail of hickeys and enjoying every noise he made. He tried to return the favor but she grumbled something about 'make-up' and 'purple' and went back to his mouth before he could leave a second mark on her clavicle.

The evening wore on for the two, a movie was put in but not watched and take out was ordered. The night went without a hiccup as they moved on the feelings they had for one another.

At one point when they were cuddled on the couch and panting heavily, going back to trying to semi watch the film, Pacifica got in her last words on the earlier matter.

"Next time you compliment me, you're not allowed to follow up with lies. We could've been doing this since Mabel left at four in the afternoon."

Dipper made sure he never lied to her again, especially now that kisses were on the line.

She decided this green tie was definitely her favorite of his.


	9. Of Misunderstandings and Prom

And so Dipper stood awkwardly before her, with a flower so obviously pulled from the dirt and his shirt on inside out, and nothing came to mind other than '_what else could I really expect?_'. It was 7 in the morning, around the time she normally woke up, being a morning person and all, and it was Sunday. Dipper's sudden appearance and flood of questions could normally be handled by now, but with the coffee in her mug not et consumed and not really understanding all that was said, she just responded with the best possible reply.

"What?" Pacifica was genuinely confused.

He stammered for a bit, none of which she could really comprehend, and he seemed out of breathe, but put his arm out in a single motion offering her the flower. Hesitantly, she accepted it and he smiled.

"So you'll go with me then?" He asked hopefully smile gracing his features and his eyes lighting up.

"Go where?" She asked plainly though it was obvious to her right after that she shouldn't have asked. He immediately slumped his shoulders and frowned, the light that played on his eyes seemed to fade. It was scary how he looked so lost and abandoned so quickly.

"…I was asking if you wanted to go to prom with me but..." he talked like a kicked puppy too.

"Prom!?" She was shocked as soon as she heard the word utter out of his mouth.

"I guess it was too much to ask then… I'll see ya later Paz…" And he began walking, presumably back to the shack, but she grabbed his arm.

"Dipper, I swear to god you will not walk away after asking me to PROM of all things." Her words were threatening but had the sort of endearment he had grown to find in her speech patterns.

Before he could respond, she continued both scolding him and moving the conversation forward.

"Yes, Dip I would love to go with you. You're going to pic me up from the manor, my parents will not know, and pictures will be taken in the woods outside of the shack. Our colors will be a sort of lake- or maybe a sea-foam green. You have that green tie already and I can get a dress no problem. Okay but for dinner…" And off she started planning. The smile didn't fade from his face.

She continued to hold his arm as she pulled him into the breakfast nook of the manor and pulled out papers to write down all of what she was organizing. Dipper was feeling much like she had been earlier, lost in the sea of words and not really sure what to answer with. He realized that she asked him a question, and he responded the only way he knew how to in a situation like this.

"Yes." He was firm with this answer and made eye contact. His smile from earlier was still showing on his cheeks.

"So who is it then?" she had put the pen to her lips, but rather than trying to eat it like Dipper often did, she simply tapped it up and down.

Dipper had no idea.

"Sorry you lost me, what was the first question?"

"Huh, yeah I figured. I asked if Mabel was going with a date, and if so, who?"

"Oh, Mabel and the girls are having an anti-prom thing. They want to do it senior year but this year, since only one of them has a boyfriend, they're sticking it out and holding their own party. Grunkle stan is going to try and make money off it or something."

"Huh… Then who are we going with? What friend group?" her eyebrows showed her confusion. They were going as friends right? She figured he just didn't want to be the only one not coupled. The matching colors was something she wanted to do, but not because they were going like, as a couple. As dates. As something more than the 'friends' that they were.

"I thought I was picking you up?" his confusion showed as well. The two stared at each other's perplexed facial expression, and Pacifica then made the shift back to her planner attitude, though she was now uncertain of the plan.

"You are but then the limo would get us all from the shack… but if it's just us, I guess the limo can get us from your house only…" it rolled off her tongue the first bit, but she got quieter as she went on. She didn't make eye contact with him.

"I thought it would be just us…" She heard him say it and looked up at him only to see he was turned looking out of the window and pink.

"Like a date?" and then the blush became very clear.

"That's what I asked earlier… but we don't have to if you don't want to…" Besides his clear embarrassment and backtracking offer, he was firm answering her. The sad puppy look seemed to be making its comeback though.

"Oh! No that's fine Dip! We'll have a lot of fun! Your sister is too crazy at parties anyway… No offense of course, she just has so much energy. It's like the battery Bunny on the commercials!" She tried to make light of the situation, but at this early in the morning and after staying up all night to research for the dork, she wasn't really ready to deal with his emotions, much less her own.

And away went the abandoned dog look and back returned the ray of sunshine in Dippers obvious mood swing.

"Okay great! And yeah she's an animal when it comes to strobe lights, bad music and free food, we're working on it… I'm gunna go back to bed, I woke up early to try to get here before you woke but that didn't happen! That's why I was so messed up earlier, the list was suddenly obsolete and I didn't know… Never mind any of that! I'll see you later though! Are you still coming over with the ghost details at lunch time Paz?"

"Yikes, yeah I was wondering why you were awake, mornings are not your friend Dip. And yeah I'll be over." She replied this all coolly as if dealing with a client of a sort, and considered what he had said about his plan and list to get here before she woke…

They both stood and she walked him to the door, making the appropriate amount of small talk for the early morning hours. When they got to the door way he did something she never in a million years thought he would be bold enough to do. He gave her a very happy peck on her cheek and a cheerful "See you at lunch!" and made his way to his car.

She slammed the door and held a hand to her cheek. She didn't bother to think about the fact that she didn't say a final goodbye. He kissed her cheek. He had kissed her cheek! He had kissed her!

Pacifica was baffled and red and was so unsure about everything that had happened thus far. She ignored the questions about breakfast by the butler Fred she passed, and the questions the maid Shannon offered. She made her way to her room and laid onto her bed, wondering if doing this would cause her to wake up to another or a more real reality.

Dipper wanted to date her. Dipper wanted to kiss her, so he kissed her. He liked adventuring with her and he valued her intelligence. He appreciated the hard work she put into research. He had told her that she was pretty before. He had told her he liked her confidence. Thinking back, he had told her many things…

And any compliment he paid her, she always made sure to return. Was this because she liked him more than a friend?

She didn't know the answer to the question she asked, but was more perplexed than ever. Looking at the time, she guessed that he would have returned to the shack by now, and so she called him.

Her phone was cold in her hand, which felt nice because she felt as if she was a billion degrees.

"What's wrong?" was how he answered the phone. He half expected her to take back her acceptance, half expected for her to yell at him for kissing her cheek.

"Dipper, do you like me?" she posed it quietly, and while she didn't rush through her question, she wasn't slow about it either.

"Uh… Yeah? I thought that was, well, obvious." There was shuffling on the other end, like he was opeing the door after sticking keys into the door knob. His voice wasn't nonchalant as much as wary of what was going on.

"Not as friends right?" This she asked with speed, as soon as he finished answering her first question.

"Yeah no, not as friends Paz… That's okay right? Oh my god you don't- oh my god-" He was clear with the first half before he made the realization of a life time. He hadn't confessed to her. And she didn't feel the same, more than likely at least. She had thought they were going as friends! She didn't like him! Not in that way at least- and it sent him into a flurry of anxiety.

"I'll see you at lunch." And she hung up. She sat paralyzed to her bed, and then still on her bed but lying on her side instead. After that she fell asleep once more and woke up to her phone ringing.

It was Mabel and the time in the corner said 11:30. Fuck.

"Hey! Sorry I fell back asleep, I'll be over in-"But she was cut off.

"What the hell did you do to break Dipper?" Mabel was in defense mode, she could tell through the tone she used and her diction choice of 'hell'. Mabel never used it unless completely serious. Double Fuck.

"There was a misunderstanding, don't worry, I'll clear it up once I get over there." Though she had no idea how on earth she was going to manage that.

"You better, cause I can't stand it when he's like this, it's like he has more energy than me, but it's all going to just his freaking out." So he was having panic attacks then. Triple fuck banana sundae.

"Don't worry I'll be over in like thirty minutes _(somehow)_ and I'll sort it all out with him… some, uh, some stuff was said this morning."

"Okay, you better fix whatever broke him though, 'cause not even our normal Code 12 worked. See you soon."

"Yeah, see you." And she hung up the phone. She rushed to get dress and opted for a quick 5 minute shower. Her long wet locks were then pulled into a large pony tail to dry, and she dressed. She was out the door and had a couple minutes to spare for driving to the shack. She may have driven a little faster than the speed limit.

Pacifica was trying to come up with a plan of attack for how to handle what was about to happen, but she couldn't have been more confused. Did she comfort him? Did she confess back to him? Did she even feel that way? Maybe she shouldn't go with him after all… No, that wasn't an option. She would go with him and have a wonderful time doing so. Well, as long as she didn't screw this up five times to Friday.

She arrived to see Mabel and her Grunkle on the porch, both with arm crossed and neither looking as happy as they normally did. Mabel's grandfather was absent from this scene, and Pacifica was glad for this, the two of them would be enough to put her 6 feet under the ground.

"I'm working on it." Pacifica said as she walked past them and into the house. Her feet moved automatically to Dipper's door, where they always went when she came to the small home. She knocked at the door and got a muffled 'go away Mabel'. And so Pacifica went in.

His panic attack from earlier seemed to have crashed as he was now lying on his stomach atop his bed and not twitching at all. He looked up with anger but then paled after realizing it wasn't Mabel who had come to visit him. He quickly pulled himself up, sitting on his bed and watching her every move.

"So uh, Dip, we need to talk…" and she moved and sat in his desk rolling chair, which she moved to in front of him and his bed.

"Sure."

And then there was silence as neither knew what to say. Pacifica felt blank and Dipper was screaming inside of his mind to say anything and everything all at once. They made and maintained eye contact, and then Dipper turned and cleared his throat. As soon as his mouth was open to talk however, Pacifica had filled the silence.

"Dipper I don't know how I feel about you. I'm so confused and I'm so sorry it's like this. I really appreciate and respect you and… and I would love to go to prom with you! But please give me some time to figure out… well, whatever the fuck my feelings are doing." It consoled him considerably. She didn't hate him then, and she didn't say anything about it being weird. That was a great track record as far as he was concerned. Sure it sucked that she didn't like him back (potentially) but he couldn't really do much to change that opinion.

"Yeah, sure Paz, that sounds good." And he expected that to be the end of that for a little while. But she looked ready to burst and when he raised an eyebrow up his forehead she continued.

"I mean, we get along so well. And I'm a bit surprised and then you kissed me and well I never considered it because I thought that you thought that I was too mean or something or that I was I don't know too bossy or… I don't know! I just didn't think you could feel that way for me! And because of that I never thought that I could feel that way for you! I just- I don't know! I don't know!" She got off of the chair and went and sat by his side on the bed. He shifted to still be looking at her, and when doing so she pulled closer to him. She grabbed his arm again, but unlike earlier, she now had her own arm wrapped around it. She was making him nervous, with how, well, nervous she was. He was the one with anxiety for gods sake, but she was giving him a run for his money right now.

Pacifica was normally so confident in all that she did, that the sudden turn in not knowing anything so suddenly was baffling and frightening. Pacifica had identity problems after having to reinvent herself following her parents final betrayal. In her mind, if she didn't know who she was, then no one did, and if no one knew who she was, then was she really anything?

"It's okay Paz, I can wait for an answer… You can calm down, it's not freaking me out, well, any more at least, and it's cool. Just work through it."

"But you shouldn't have to wait! I shouldn't be this shitty to you!" She was flushed in her face, and he wasn't sure if she was going to cry or not. It looked like she was mad more than upset though, and he was hoping this was the case. Pacifica didn't know anyway to make up her mind though. She considered what her movie knowledge taught her though.

"Hey you're not-" but he was cut mid-sentence by her lips connecting very forcefully to his. It was a warm kiss, and he hadn't thought that now of all times was when she would kiss him, but he leaned in and responded relying on instinct to know what to actually do. It was a whole new ball game for the awkward boy. Soon enough she pulled away.

"How the fuck did you figure out that you liked me before I figured out that I liked you?"

"Uh…"

"Because that is not even remotely fair Dip. You owe me." Eye contact was made now, and they both seemed to grin madly, though Dipper became perplexed with her last statement.

"What the hell? But… what could you possibly want from me?" She laid her head onto his shoulder, her cheek on his neck and her arms around his back. She could see peripherally that his ears were red.

"I want at least three kisses every day until prom. The number may increase or decrease from there." She spoke her demands clearly and without room for misinterpretation which had happened many times just in one day.

"Oh, well, that's definitely a reasonable payment method." He couldn't grin any bigger, he didn't think it possible.

"You bet your fu- shoot I've been swearing a lot today- you bet your bippy it's a great method of payment. I'm a northwest in blood after all, currency is their main thing." Bringing up her family was weird to her but it made sense that she would be like them in some regards as much as she loathed it.

"But prom is definitely a thing?" Dipper changed the parent conversation before it could sour the moment, and he thought himself wise for doing it. He wrapped his arms around her waist during this time and also considered this a wise move.

"Duh… I can't tell if you're dense or just want me to gratify your efforts." She played with the back curls of hair on his head, moving them between her fingers.

"A bit of both maybe."

"Yeah, I mean you'd have to be pretty dense to grab a white lily, or you know a death lily as they're called, to prom-pose to a girl with."

"Fuck, did I really?" he pulled away from her and she made eye contact with him now, her smile was teasing but endearing. He was embarrassed but not for more than a few moments before she responded with a laugh.

"Ha now you're the potty mouth, and yes you did. When is prom anyway?" She giggled, moving back into his shoulder before she reflected on the fact that she had no details about prom. Hugging and being held by him like this felt wonderful but the question sat in her mind now.

"In like two months." He gave a sheepish grin. She could have slapped him for rushing into all of this and all the chaos that had ensued, but she laughed. She laughed and then kissed the idiot who couldn't plan for crap if one thing went wrong, and who she most definitely had a thing for.

"You big fucking dork."

AN: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Let me know if you have any ideas for future chapters or if I made a mistake (which I'm sure there must be many)! Hope you are all pushing through finals and exams with vigor and zeal! I know I'm not!

Please review or leave me notes of scolding because I need to study! Either is appreciated!


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